THE  GIFT  OF 

FLORENCE  V.  V.  DICKEY 

TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


THE  DONALD  R.  DICKEY 

LIBRARY 
OF  VERTEBRATE  ZOOLOGY 


• 


KRIDER'S 

SPORTING  ANECDOTES, 


ILLUSTRATIVE   OF  THE   IIABITS  OK 


CERTAIN   VARIETIES 


AMERICAN   GAME 


EDITED  BY  H.  MILNOR  KLAPP 


PHILADELPHIA: 
A.    MART,    LATE    CAREY    &    HART, 

I  2  fi    CHESTNUT    STREET. 


Knu-red  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

JOHN    KRIDER, 

the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


j    u.  JUNES,  PIUXTEH. 
3  A  Carter's  Alley. 


3J3 


TO 


THE   SPORTSMEN 


AMERICA, 


THIS  BOOK  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 


BY    THE    A  U  Til  OK 


535174 


PREFACE. 


In  offering  these  unpretending  pages  to  the 
public,  it  is  simply  the  wish  of  the  author  and 
his  editor  to  draw  its  attention  more  particu- 
larly to  American  field  sports,  and  the  reader 
will  soon  find,  that,  avoiding  the  tedium  of  a 
regular  treatise  or  manual,  we  speak  right  on, 
with  the  hope  to  interest  and  amuse.  If  suc- 
cessful in  this,  our  point  is  gained. 


CONTENTS. 


PAUL 

Familiar  Introductory  remarks  on  the  character  of  the  Dog,  5 

Snipe  Shooting,  -       40 

Woodcock  Shooting,  73 

The  Rice  Bunting  or  Reed  Bird,  &c.,  -                                           113 

The  Grass  Plover,    -  118 

The  Bull-headed  or  Golden  Plover,  123 

Rail  Shooting,  12(» 

Partridge  Shooting,       -  loT 

Duck  Shooting,  218 

Canvass-Back  Duck,      -  -     21'.* 

Red-headed  Duck,    -  221 

American  Widgeon,  222 

Scaup  Duck,  22") 

Canada  Goose,  -  •    254 

Pigeon-Match  Shooting,  272 

Field  Dogs,        -  -     27* 


KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 


FAMILIAR    INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS    ON    THE 
CHARACTER  OF  THE   DOG. 

IT  has  always  seemed  to  us  a  thing  worthy  of 
note  that  the  dog  alone,  of  the  entire  brute  crea- 
tion, should  especially  attach  himself  to  man. 
Many  instances  are,  indeed,  upon  record  where 
animals  of  a  different  species  have  manifested  an 
extraordinary  affection  for  particular  individuals. 
Among  the  Arabs,  by  whom  the  animal  is  hu- 
manely treated,  the  horse  stands  pre-eminent  in 
this  respect;  and  who  has  not  read  of  the  Cos- 
sack's steed,  which 

"  Obeyed  his  voice  and  came  to  call, 
And  knew  him  in  the  midst  of  all, 
Though  thousands  were  around,  and  night, 
Without  a  star,  pursued  her  flight." 

This,  which  would  seem  sufficiently  poetic 
as  related  of  the  horse,  is  literally  a  matter  of 
fact  with  the  dog,  whom  Byron,  as  every  one 
knows,  has  selected,  in  more  instances  than 


6  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

one,  to  satirize  mankind.  However,  misan- 
thropy apart,  in  sober  prose  it  cannot  be  denied, 
that  from  the  moment  Dash  opens  his  eyes 
on  external  things,  he  recognizes  the  presence 
of  man,  and  soon  follows  his  footsteps  as  the 
humblest  and  most  devoted  of  his  servitors. 
Nay,  many  a  sportsman  has  noticed  the  puppies 
of  a  litter,  not  yet  arrived  at  the  momentous  ninth 
day,  strive  to  lick  the  hand  which  caressed  them, 
and  watched  the  superannuated  pointer  leave  his 
bed  in  the  shade,  and  still  cheerily  constant  to 
his  text,  totter  on  to  the  field  at  the  heels  of  his 
master.  Perhaps  the  reader  has  often  been 
amused,  in  the  street,  when  observing  the  air  of 
grave  importance  with  which  one  dog,  after  a 
brief  colloquy  with  another,  will  hurry  on  to  join 
his  owner.  There  is  something  actually  distress- 
ing, too,  in  the  anxiety  manifested  in  the  looks, 
voice  and  actions  of  a  lost  dog.  Superstition,  as 
usual,  has  appropriated  to  herself  the  prolonged 
and  melancholy  howl,  with  which  he'  seems  to 
abandon  himself  to  despair,  when  his  search  has 
proved  unavailing,  and  night,  in  a  strange  place, 
settles  down  at  last  upon  his  houseless  head.  On 
such  occasions  he  will  often  seat  himself  on  his 
haunches  beneath  the  nearest  window,  and,  point- 
ing his  nose  towards  heaven,  appal  the  ears  of 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  7 

the  inmates  with  his  boding  and  ill-omened  cry. 
One  may  readily  imagine  the  effect  produced  in 
the  sick  chamber,  or  at  the  family  fire-side,  by 
these  disheartening  sounds.  If,  like  the  wander- 
ing harper,  he  intends  his  distracting  discord  as 
an  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  the  good  people 
within,  it  is  almost  superfluous  to  say  that  his 
expectations  are  illy  repaid,  since  we  have  no 
doubt  that  the  reader  will  agree  with  us  that  there 
hardly  exists,  within  the  range  of  the  census,  that 
super-excellent  Samaritan,  who  has  ever  opened 
his  heart  or  his  doors  to  a  stray  cur.  The 
cry,  however,  like  that  of  the  famishing  wolf, 
appears  to  be  a  mere  ebullition  of  despair.  Some 
dogs,  however,  whose  dispositions,  we  are  inclined 
to  think,  are  slightly  tinged  with  romance,  are 
much  in  the  habit  of  serenading  "  the  refulgent 
queen  of  night,"  in  this  interesting  way.  In 
general,  though,  be  it  said,  the  dog's  star  is  his 
master's  eye,  and  he  wisely  leaves  the  celestial 
orbs  to  poets,  lovers  and  astronomers,  as  those 
whom  they  most  concern.  We  have  never  heard 
that  the  dog  of  our  North  American  Indian  dif- 
fers at  all  from  his  civilized  brother  in  this  last 
respect,  although,  in  accordance  with  the  untu- 
tored creed  of  his  master,  he  might,  with  great 
consistency,  cast  an  occasional  glance  towards  the 


8  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

happy  hunting  grounds,  when  game  was  espe- 
cially scarce  in  the  terrestrial  forests.  In  large 
cities,  where  the  dog  is  seldom  called  upon  to 
fight,  or  even  die,  for  his  master,  with  a  whim- 
sical degree  of  apprehension  he  is  observant  to 
share  in  his  every  humor,  whether  it  be  to  chase 
strange  cats  in  the  garden,  dive  for  stones  in  a 
horse-bucket,  point  a  partridge  in  a  basket,  or, 
semper  re  composita,  to  take  a  strut  with  the  dan- 
dies on  the  sidewalk.  But  there  is  one  thing 
which  he  drops  his  tail  against,  and  therein  con- 
sists his  claim  to  gentility — he  has  a  soul  above 
work.  Travellers  may  tell  you  long  stories  about 
the  dogs  of  Labrador  and  Newfoundland,  and 
even  in  our  own  land  you  may  occasionally  hear 
of  a  butter  churn,  a  small  threshing  machine,  or 
something  of  that  sort,  turned  by  dogs ;  but  take 
our  word  for  it,  that  in  these  very  instances, 
which  they  make  so  much  noise  about,  the  animal 
is  reduced  from  a  state  of  humble  companionship 
to  that  of  absolute  slavery,  and  that  every  mo- 
ment's labor  eked  out  of  him  is  through  pure  fear 
of  the  lash.  The  sledge  dogs,  by  their  incessant 
snarling  and  fighting  in  gears,  sufficiently  show 
their  abhorrence  of  the  system;  let  but  a  wild 
reindeer  cross  their  path  through  the  snow,  and 
off  goes  the  entire  pack  in  full  chase,  regardless 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  9 

of  sledge  or  driver,  from  the  incumbrance  of  the 
last  of  which  they,  indeed,  speedily  rid  them- 
selves. We  have  heard  it  acknowledged  in  the 
far  west,  where  Tray  has  sometimes  been  set  to 
churn  or  to  spin,  that,  like  most  other  unwilling 
servitors,  if  not  closely  watched,  he  is  seldom  to 
be  found  when  his  services  are  most  particularly 
required.  The  man  who  would  advocate  the 
propriety  of  placing  a  dog  in  a  cart  or  a  tread- 
mill, deserves  to  be  shunned  by  the  entire  canine 
race ;  and  where,  we  would  ask,  is  the-  Pharisee 
of  such  superlative  leaven  as  to  deny  all  sympa- 
thy with  that  scarcely  less  noble  being,  whom 
the  proudest  monarchs  and  mightiest  minds  of 
the  universe,  in  every  age,  have  made  their  com- 
panion? 

What !  force  Hark,  Beppo,  Towser  and  Dash 
— not  to  speak  of  Silver,  Mountain  and  Blanche, 
whom  Shakspeare  has  immortalized— -force  these 
to  work  !  Why,  what  would  the  dogs  of  Egypt, 
who  once  had  divine  honors  paid  to  them,  say  to 
this?  Reflect,  gentle  reader,  how  our  Leather- 
stocking — that  familiar  and  much  admired  crea- 
tion of  the  genius  which  has  recently  died  from 
among  us — reflect  how  he  would  have  looked,  if 
some  pumpkin-headed  squatter  had  demanded 
the  loan  of  his  hound,  to  set  in  a  rustic  tread- 


10  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

mill.  We  think  we  see  the  indignant  old  hunter 
grasping  "Killdeer"  like  a  vice,  as,  with  back- 
woods emphasis,  he  tells  the  oaf  that  "the  thing 
aire  out  of  reason  and  agin  all  natur."  When 
your  dog  degenerates  and  becomes  vicious,  then, 
if  you  are  conscientiously  opposed  to  capital 
punishment,  condemn  him,  if  you  please,  to  hard 
labor ;  but  while  he  is  equal  to  the  sample  of  his 
race,  ennobled  as  it  is  by  the  unanimous  decree 
of  mankind,  for  your  sake,  as  well  as  his  own, 
treat  him. accordingly. 

We  will  now,  with  the  reader's  permission, 
relate  an  example  of  the  curious  effect  which  this 
forced  derogation  of  character,  once  produced  <m 
the  conduct  of  a  respectable  house-dog. 

A  gentleman  was  walking  along  the  main  street 
of  the  fine  old  borough  of  German  town,  when  he 
was  met  by  a  large  dog  harnessed  to  a  sort  of 
tilbury,  in  which  was  seated  a  diminutive  invalid, 
the  son  of  a  storekeeper  in  the  place.  The  boy 
held  the  lines  in  his  hand,  with  an  important 
look  on  his  pale  face ;  but  the  aspect  of  the  dog 
was  sulky  and  malapropos,  as  if  keenly  conscious 
of  his  degradation.  With  his  tail  down  and  his 
ears  back,  he  moved  on  slowly  and  unwillingly 
enough,  until  a  setter,  which  was  in  attendance 
upon  the  pedestrian,  came  up,  and  halting  on  the 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  11 

pike,  cocked  his  ears,  perhaps  with  concern  at 
the  pitiful  condition  to  which  the  unfortunate 
custodian  of  the  threshold  was  reduced.  No 
sooner  had  the  sullen  eyes  of  the  latter  fallen 
upon  the  free  and  life-like  figure  of  Beppo,  than, 
uttering  a  savage  growl,  he  flew  from  the  ele- 
vated sidew-alk  full  at  the  other's  throat,  pitching 
out  the  invalid,  overturning  the  Tom  Thumb 
tilbury,  and  scouring  along  the  road  after  the 
innocent  cause  of  the  catastrophe,  who,  upon 
being  thus  charged,  as  it  were,  by  a  chariot,  fled 
as  if  death  were  at  his  heels.  Whether,  in  this 
case,  the  grocer's  dog  imagined  that  he  detected 
something  quizzical  in  the  expression  of  the  set- 
ter's face,  or  was  merely  infuriated  at  the  diffe- 
rence of  their  respective  conditions  at  the  moment, 
is  a  matter  of  doubt.  The  effect  produced,  how- 
ever, was  solely  attributable  to  the  presence  of 
the  stranger's  dog,  since  it  appeared  that  the  boy 
had  been  daily  in  the  habit  of  airing  himself  in 
this  way  for  some  time  previous.  The  fugitive 
took  sanctuary  with  our  jovial  host  of  the  But- 
tonwood,  and  the  assailant,  it  concerns  us  to  state, 
received  a  severe  threshing  for  his  indirect 
though  outrageous  exertions  in  favor  of  canine 
freedom. 

Dogs  have  been  known  to  form  offensive  and 


12  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

defensive  alliances  with  each  other,  which,  like 
those  of  the  princes  of  the  earth,  are  liable  to 
abrupt  and  disagreeable  conclusions. 

A  physician  of  this  city  had  in  his  stable  a 
terrier,  which  formed  a  league  of  this  kind  with 
an  individual  of  the  same  stock,  belonging  to  a 
sugar  refiner  in  the  vicinity.  The  chief  end  of 
this  alliance,  it  was  observed,  was  to  mount  guard 
at  a  corner  of  the  court  on  which  the  stable  was 
located,  and  make  battle  with  any  thing  in  the 
shape  of  perambulating  dog  flesh  which  might 
happen  to  pass  that  way.  Now,  there  lived,  about 
a  square  above  the  court,  a  Dutch  baker,  who 
possessed  a  large  dog,  which  regularly  attended 
his  master  as  he  went  his  morning  rounds,  with 
"the  staff  of  life"  on  his  shoulder.  This  was  a 
quiet,  sleek,  well-intentioned  animal,  but  a  few 
months  out  of  the  days  of  his  puppyhood.  His 
name  was  Tim,  and  we  can  safely  aver  that  he 
was  a  dog  of  repute,  harboring  no  evil  designs  of 
any  kind  in  his  head;  which,  to  tell  the  truth, 
was  very  far  from  being  the  case  with  the  two 
terriers. 

Time  after  time  had  the  latter  assailed  and 
beaten  the  baker's  dog,  and  no  redress  could  the 
sufferer  obtain,  except,  perhaps,  when  some 
vagrant  boy,  in  his  zeal  for  fair  play,  would  shy 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  13 

a  stone  at  the  heads  of  the  two  bullies.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  neighborhood  were  too  busy  to  attend 
to  the  quarrels  of  dogs ;  so  that,  unless  the  fates 
interfered  in  some  unforeseen  way,  there  really 
appeared  to  be  no  salvation  for  Tim,  since,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  things,  there  was  every  pros- 
pect that  the  breath  of  life  was  eventually  to  be 
worried  out  of  his  nostrils. 

Months  passed  away,  and  the  dog  increased 
in  size  and  strength,  but  the  evil  under  which  he 
had  so  long  howled  was  by  no  means  abated.  So 
far  from  it,  indeed,  that  he  was  now  obliged  to 
leave  the  baker  every  morning  at  the  first  street 
above  the  court,  and  make  the  circuit  of  the 
square  to  escape  the  expectant  fangs  of  these  two 
sons  of  Cerberus. 

We  have  no  doubt  that  this  troubled  Tim 
exceedingly,  for  a  close  observer  of  these  saga- 
cious animals  will  tell  you,  that  if  there  is  any 
thing  which  a  faithful  dog  takes  a  praiseworthy 
pride  in,  it  is  in  appearing  to  the  best  advantage 
in  the  eyes  of  his  master.  It  is  but  fair  to  state 
that  the  two  tyrants  sometimes  engaged  in  terri- 
ble combats  with  strange  dogs,  and  that,  so  far  as 
we  can  learn,  they  invariably  came  off  victorious. 
No  doubt  these  desperate  contests,  witnessed  from 
afar,  struck  additional  terror  into  the  heart  of 
Tim. 


14  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

However,  it  so  happened,  that  upon  a  certain 
New  Year's  day,  as  the  doctor  and  the  sugar 
refiner  were  conversing  in  the  street,  they  saw 
the  baker  coming  towards  them,  with  his  sleek, 
black  dog  behind  him.  The  two  tyrants,  as 
usual,  were  sitting  at  the  corners  of  the  court, 
on  the  qui  vive — the  bigger,  wrhose  name  was 
Flame,  ensconced  on  a  fire-plug,  and  the  lesser, 
who  was  called  Smoke,  watching  under  a  lamp- 
post. The  name  of  the  court,  we  had  for- 
gotten to  state,  was  Concord  Place,  which  was 
somewhat  at  variance  with  the  character  of  its 
guardians,  although  Relief  alley,  a  narrow  pas- 
sage directly  opposite,  was  no  misnomer,  so  far 
as  it  is  connected  with  the  anecdote,  inasmuch 
as  it  had  often  saved  Tim,  at  need,  from  the  teeth 
of  his  determined  assailants. 

"Now,"  said  the  doctor,  "let  us  watch  the 
motions  of  these  three  dogs." 

"I  have  often  noticed  them  before,"  said  the 
other,  "  and  the  baker's  will  certainly  leave  him 
at  the  next  street." 

But  whether  it  was  that  the  evil  had  arrived 
at  that  pitch  at  which  endurance  ceases  to  be  a 
virtue,  even  in  a  dog,  or  that  the  day  being  the 
first  of  the  year,  Tim  was  determined  to  begin  it, 
more  magistri,  with  a  new  talley,  is  open  to  free 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  15 

discussion;  we  only,  as  historians,  faithfully 
chronicle  the  fact,  that,  with  head  and  tail  erect, 
deviating  not  a  hair's  breadth  from  his  route, 
Tim  sturdily  stuck  at  the  Dutchman's  heels. 

The  two  tyrants  bristled  their  spines,  erected 
their  cropt  ears,  and  waited  for  the  moment  to 
pounce  upon  him.  The  baker  stopped  at  a  cus- 
tomer's door,  delivered  his  bread,  and  passed  on; 
Tim  followed;  Flame  glanced  at  Smoke,  and,  as 
was  the  rule  of  warfare  observed  by  the  bellige- 
rents, the  latter  advanced  to  commence  the  on- 
slaught, nothing  doubting  of  an  easy  victory. 

But  the  instant  that  he  came  sufficiently  near, 
Tim,  the  late  meek  and  gentle  disciple  of  endu- 
rance, savagely  seized  him  by  the  back,  and  lift- 
ing him  clear  from  the  ground,  shook  him  in  a 
manner  which,  however  delightful  to  the  doctor, 
must  have  been  as  disagreeable  as  unexpected  to 
him. 

11  Served  him  exactly  right,"  said  the  sugar 
refiner,  gruffly,  while  the  doctor  cried  encore ; 
and  a  quick  eye,  accustomed  to  read  the  physi- 
ognomies of  quadrupeds,  might  have  noticed 
something  of  unpleasant  surprise  in  the  looks  of 
the  chief  tyrant.  Nevertheless,  quickly  descend- 
ing from  his  post  of  observation,  he  boldly  ad- 
vanced to  the  rescue  of  his  comrade,  who  was  no 


16  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

match  for  Tim,  now  that  his  ire  was  fully  awa- 
kened. 

The  beholders  were  now  all  expectation  to  see 
what  the  baker's  dog  would  do  in  this  emer- 
gency. The  result  was  not  long  in  doubt;  for, 
as  Flame  approached,  Tim  gave  Smoke  a  last 
severe  shake,  which  effectually  settled  him  for 
the  nonce,  and  meeting  his  chief  assailant  hall 
way,  grappled  him  with  a  fury,  which,  as  he  was 
really  the  stronger  dog  of  the  two,  landed  him  on 
his  back  in  the  kennel,  in  a  moment."  Smoke, 
beholding  this  with  increased  dismay,  fled  in 
inglorious  haste,  through  Relief  alley,  leaving  the 
field  to  the  two  remaining  combatants,  who 
fought  vigorously  for  a  few  minutes  longer,  the 
one  loath  to  lose  his  ancient  supremacy,  and  the 
other  determined  to  provide  anew  for  the  contin- 
gencies of  the  future.  At  length  the  scale  ot 
victory  turned — the  doctor's  dog  cried  miser ecor- 
dia;  and  Tim,  after  fairly  vanquishing  the  two 
redoubtable  tyrants,  trotted  on,  like  a  knight- 
errant  of  old,  to  rejoin  the  baker's  banner. 

"Now,"  said  the  doctor,  "that  dog  has  taught 
us  a  lesson,  which  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe 
might  read  with  advantage." 

"Yes,"  answered  the  other;  and  he  must  have 
premeditated  the  action,  for,  to  my  certain  know- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  17 

ledge,  nothing  could  have  previously  induced 
him  to  pass  that  court  when  your  dog  or  mine 
was  in  sight." 

"It  looks  very  like  the  reasoning  power,  I  con- 
fess," said  the  doctor;  "  but  see,  here  comes  your 
dog  back." 

The  most  curious  part  of  the  affair  now  occur- 
red; for  as  Smoke  came  nigh  to  Flame,  for  the 
purpose,  no  doubt,  of  comparing  injuries,  the 
latter,  who  was  licking  his  wounds,  instantly 
flew  upon  him,  and,  without  paying  the  least 
regard  to  their  former  relations,  inflicted  upon 
him  a  tremendous  mauling.  At  this  sight  the 
physician,  unwilling  to  lose  his  professional  gra- 
vity in  the  street,  started  instanter  for  his  office ; 
while  the  sugar  refiner,  albeit  not  possessed  of  so 
quick  a  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  retreated  to  a 
counting  room  in  a  huge  smoky  building  across 
the  way.  The  alliance  was,  however,  dissolved, 
and  the  two  discomfitted  tyrants  were  never  seen 
together  from  that  instant. 

In  this  anecdote,  for  the  truth  of  which  we  can 
vouch,  we  have  strikingly  displayed,  first,  a  mu- 
tual understanding,  resulting  in  a  regular  alli- 
ance for  the  purpose  of  aggressive  warfare ;  next, 
endurance,  amounting  almost  to  abject  cowardice, 
on  the  part  of  a  third  dog ;  then  a  noble  resolu- 


18  KRIDEIVS  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

tion  to  resist  oppression  to  the  last;  and,  lastly, 
a  violent  dissolution  of  the  league,  consequent 
upon  the  signal  defeat  of  the  two  tyrants. 

We  will  now  relate  a  few  examples  of  the 
inveterate  pertinacity  with  which  dogs  that  have 
once  worried  sheep,  seize  every  opportunity  of 
indulging,  by  stealth,  in  their  flagitious  inclina- 
tions; of  the  cunning  which  they  display  in 
endeavoring  to  elude  detection,  and  of  the  arti- 
fices which  they  make  use  of,  to  induce  other 
better  disposed  individuals  to  join  them  in  their 
marauding  expeditions.  These  have  been  long 
known  to  the  world,  and  still  furnish  a  favorite 
theme,  on  a  winter's  night,  at  the  farmer's  fire- 
side. 

Not  a  villager  but  has  his  say  on  the  subject ; 
not  a  herdsman  but  can  add  his  woful  experience 
of  the  slaughter.  Sixty,  seventy,  and  even  a 
hundred  sheep,  worried  in  a  single  night,  have 
been  the  astounding  effects  of  this  destructive 
propensity.  In  parts  of  the  country  where  large 
flocks  are  raised,  the  dog,  as  representing  his 
race,  figures  full  as  often  in  the  imagination  of 
the  youthful  grazier  on  the  prongs  of  a  good  steel 
pitchfork,  as  he  does,  when  arrayed  in  his  glory, 
as  "honest  Tray"  or  "faithful  Towser,"  of  the 
school  book. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  19 

-  Short  shrift  is  accorded  to  the  robber,  when 
caught  red-footed  and  in  the  act,  or  tracked  from 
the  scene  of  blood,  through  the  tell-tale  snow,  to 
the  unconscious  homestead. 

Vain  are  the  entreaties  of  the  house-wife  or 
children,  if,  indeed,  they  find  voices  to  plead  for 
the  midnight  assassin,  who,  apart  from  his  secret 
acts  of  villainy,  may  have  been  a  very  serviceable 
animal.  The  master  himself  has  little  to  say, 
since  slay  the  dog  or  pay  for  the  sheep  is  the 
grim  alternative.  The  axe,  the  rope,  or  the  fowl- 
ing piece,  settles  the  matter  on  the  spot;  while 
the  very  porch,  which  has  so  long  sheltered  the 
culprit,  seems  half  aghast  with  silent  horror. 

The  propensity,  which  is  chiefly  confined  to 
curs  and  mongrels,  undoubtedly  descends  from 
the  wild  state  of  the  race,  along  with  other  pecu- 
liarities of  less  import,  common  to  the  entire  spe- 
cies; such  as  making  lairs  in  out  of  the  way 
places,  hiding  bones  and  surplus  food  in  the 
earth,  taking  solitary  journeys  at  night,  sometimes 
to  visit  an  acquaintance,  but  more  frequently  to 
hunt  up  mischief. 

A  dog  has  been  known  to  leave  his  home  after  the 
family  had  retired,  and  go  to  a  farm-house  several 
miles  distant,  to  join  a  comrade;  after  some  pre- 
liminary snuffing  and  capering  on  the  porch,  the 


20  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

two  have  started  for  a  third  farm,  six  miles  from 
the  first,  and  worried  sheep.  In  this  instance 
each  animal  was  found  in  his  house  before  sun- 
rise, and  it  was  only  by  their  tracks  in  the  snow 
that  their  misdeeds  were  brought  home  to  them. 

All  this  reminds  us  strongly  of  the  wolf.  The 
following  incident,  said  to  have  occurred  many 
years  ago,  in  the  state  of  Virginia,  west  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  bears  a  still  closer  comparison  with 
the  deeds  of  that  wily  and  ferocious  animal. 

A  storekeeper,  in  a  village  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  possessed  a  remarkably  intelligent  dog, 
of  the  mixed  Poodle  and  Newfoundland  stock. 
He  was  of  service  to  his  master  in  guarding  his 
property,  and  had  been  taught  to  do  many  useful 
things,  which  had  become  the  talk  of  the  country 
side.  He  would  convey  parcels  home  to  a  cus- 
tomer, carry  his  master's  boots  to  the  shoemaker, 
search  diligently  for  any  thing  which  had  been 
lost  in  the  fields  or  the  roadside,  patiently  watch 
an  article  to  which  his  attention  had  been  directed, 
and  really  seemed  to  comprehend  any  command 
which  was  given  him. 

Having  been  well  cared  for,  in  spite  of  the 
cross,  he  had  attained  an  extraordinary  size,  and 
was  possessed  of  great  activity  for  so  heavy  an 
animal.  His  coat  was  coarse  and  heavy;  and,  in 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  21 

allusion  to  its  tawny  color  and  something  of  mag- 
nanimity in  his  looks,  he  was  called  Lion.  Of  a 
mild,  peaceable  disposition,  though  brave  as  his 
royal  namesake,  he  was  a  favorite  with  all  visit- 
ors to  the  store,  and  only  an  object  of  terror  and 
dislike  to  thieves  and  marauders.  His  master 
had  refused  large  offers  for  him ;  and  at  the  period 
to  which  we  particularly  refer,  he  was  in  the 
very  prime  of  his  days. 

About  five  miles  north-west  of  the  village  and 
three  from  the  main  road,  was  a  track  of  hilly 
land,  known  in  the  township  as  the  Hampton 
farm,  a  large  portion  of  which  was  devoted  to  the 
rearing  of  sheep. 

The  Hampton  farm  had,  at  different  periods, 
suffered,  as  was  supposed,  from  depredations  of 
wolves,  which,  though  becoming  scarce  in  the 
forests  of  the  vicinity,  were  still  occasionally  to 
be  met  with. 

For  more  than  a  year  not  an  individual  had 
been  shot  in  the  township;  nevertheless,  sheep 
were  still  worried,  from  time  to  time,  and  suspi- 
cion at  last  fell  upon  the  dogs  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. But  the  strictest  scrutiny  failed  to  detect 
a  single  plague  spot;  and,  accordingly,  the  whole 
corporation  of  curs  was  pronounced  to  be  sound . 

The  charge  then  reverted  to  the  wolves;  but, 


22  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

though  traps  were  set  on  the  hills,  and  a  watch 
kept,  no  signs  of  a  wolf  could  be  perceived. 

A  few  nights  after  vigilance  had  been  relaxed, 
a  sheepcot  was  broken  into,  and  a  number  of  the 
flock  either  slain  outright  or  so  mangled  as  to 
render  it  necessary  to  put  the  knife  to  their 
throats. 

The  grazier  and  his  men  were  greatly  enraged 
at  this,  and  a  price  of  twenty  dollars — a  large 
sum  for  the  neighborhood — was  forthwith  set 
upon  the  depredator's  head. 

From  the  circumstance  of  there  being  no  snow 
upon  the  ground  at  the  time,  it  was,  of  course, 
impossible  to  track  him;  but  a  close  inspection 
of  the  premises  established  the  fact,  that  the  ani- 
mal was  alone  and  of  unusual  size.  From  this 
the  conclusion  was  arrived  at  that  it  was  a  wolf, 
which  had  its  den  at  a  great  distance,  most  pro- 
bably in  the  mountains  at  the  foot  of  which  the 
farm  was  located. 

Several  good  hunters  turned  out  with  their 
dogs,  but  utterly  failed  to  strike  the  trail,  although 
the  search  was  continued  for  several  days.  At 
last,  however,  it  so  chanced  that  as  one  of  these 
men  was  crossing  a  piece  of  waste  land  between 
the  sheephills  and  the  main  road,  an  hour  or  two 
before  dawn,  he  saw,  by  the  waning  light  of  the 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  03 

moon,  an  animal,  which  he  immediately  conjec- 
tured to  be  a  wolf,  rising  an  elevation  on  his  left, 
at  a  long,  loping  pace,  making,  it  appeared,  for  a 
run  about  two  hundred  yards  distant. 

The  man  stopped  and  cocked  his  rifle,  but 
having  no  dog  with  him — his  own  having  been 
worn  out  with  the  previous  day's  run — prudently 
forbore  to  fire  so  long  as  there  existed  a  doubt 
of  his  being  able  to  sight,  a  mortal  part.  The 
creature  passed  him  at  full  speed,  directing  its 
course  for  the  run,  whither  the  hunter  cautiously 
followed.  He  soon  perceived  that  it  had  broken 
the  ice,  and  halted  in  the  water,  and  under 
cover  of  inequalities  in  the  ground,  he  was  ena- 
bled to  steal,  unperceived,  within  good  covering 
distance.  Taking  deliberate  aim,  he  pulled  the 
trigger,  and  the  brute,  leaping  up  with  a  loud 
yell,  dropped  dead  on  the  bank.  The  hunter 
carefully  reloaded  his  rifle,  loosened  his  knife  in 
its  sheath,  and,  with  his  finger  at  the  guard  of 
his  piece,  slowly  advanced  to  the  spot;  when, 
lo !  instead  of  a  grey  wolf,  to  his  utter  amaze- 
ment, he  immediately  recognized,  even  by  the 
imperfect  light,  the  lifeless  but  still  quivering 
carcass  of  the  storekeeper's  favorite  dog. 

After  his  astonishment  had  a  little  subsided, 
he  took  off  the  scalp,  and  leaving  the  body  where 


24  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

it  fell,  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  the  grazier's 
house. 

The  body  of  the  recreant,  suspended  by  the 
neck  in  a  wagon,  was  driven  in  triumph  down 
to  the  village,  and  subsequent  inquiries  left  not 
a  lingering  doubt  that  Lion,  with  all  his  remark- 
able qualities,  was,  after  all,  but  a  wolf  in  dog's 
habiliments. 

It  was  remembered  that  at  certain  periods  he 
had  refused  his  food,  and  appeared  sleepy  and 
cross;  and,  upon  comparing  dates,  the  parties 
concerned  discovered  that  these  were  the  very 
days  after  the  havoc  had  been  committed. 

He  was  actually  engaged  in  washing  the  blood 
of  six  sheep  from  his  body  when  the  hunter  shot 
him ;  and,  upon  being  satisfied  of  this,  the  whole 
village,  with  the  bereaved  storekeeper  at  their 
head,  while  they  could  not  help  deploring  the 
end  of  so  fine  an  animal,  sang  Te  Deum  over  the 
fall  of  so  accomplished  a  villain. 

The  honest  hunter  received  his  reward,  and 
was  ever  afterwards  known  by  the  soubriquet  of 
"  Sampson,"  inasmuch  as  it  was  he  who  slew 
the  Lion. 

All  half-grown  puppies,  from  a  natural  fond- 
ness for  mischief,  which  instigates  them  to  tear 
a  hat  or  a  shawl  to  shreds,  and  to  pursue  any 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  05 

object  that  flies  from  them,  have  a  disposition  to 
chase  sheep.  A  single  timely  correction  is  suf- 
ficient to  cure  this;  but  when  a  dog  once 
indulges  in  sheep  killing  by  stealth,  the  chain 
becomes  an  imperfect  check  upon  the  habit,  and 
it  is  advisable,  in  all  cases,  to  subject  him  to  far- 
mer's law.  A  popular  English  writer  has  said: 
"in  the  human  mind,  ill  regulated,  there  is  a 
dark  desire  for  the  forbidden;"  the  same  remark, 
in  certain  cases,  is  applicable  to  the  dog.  Among 
all  the  instances  which  have  come  under  our 
notice,  we  remember  but  one  in  which  the  ani- 
mal was  influenced  by  necessity,  and  not  from 
choice.  The  nearer  the  dog  approaches  to  purity 
in  stock,  the  nobler  is  his  character,  and  the  less 
he  is  addicted  to  evil  ways. 

We  have  never  heard  the  clean  bred  pointer 
accused  of  sheep  killing.  The  setter  is  not  so 
free  from  taint.  Indeed,  he  has  been  known,  in 
one  instance,  at  least,  to  forsake  his  professional 
business  and  assail  a  flock  of  sheep,  which  has 
come  in  his  way  in  the  course  of  a  day's  sport. 
This  dog,  said  to  have  been  an  imported  English 
stock,  unaccountably  left  his  master,  in  the 
stubbles,  and  a  few  minutes  afterwards  was 
actually  seen,  by  the  proprietor  of  the  land, 
throttling  sheep  in  an  adjoining  field.  The  man 


26  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

set  off  to  his  house  for  the  gun,  and  during  his 
absence,  the  dog,  recalled  by  his  master's  whistle, 
returned  to  his  side,  ranged  out,  and  pointed ; 
then  stealing  away,  while  the  shooter  was 
charging,  went  back  to  his  nefarious  work,  just 
as  the  avenger  of  innocence,  armed  with  one  of 
those  long-stocked,  old-fashioned  pieces,  which 
so  often  sent  death  into  the  British  ranks  in  the 
days  of  '76,  made  his  timely  appearance  upon 
the  scene.  The  ancient  revolutioner  was 
promptly  levelled,  and,  of  course,  the  malefactor 
died  the  death. 

He  was  in  his  third  year,  and,  as  far  as  could 
be  ascertained,  this  was  his  first  transgression. 

We  have  heard  of  another  case,  where  a  set- 
ter, suspected  of  a  similar  piece  of  atrocity,  was 
penned  up  for  the  night  with  a  pugnacious  old 
ram,  who,  it  was  supposed,  would  not  fail  to  kill 
or  cure  him  before  morning. 

The  supposition  was  ill-founded,  however, 
for  at  daylight  the  patriarch  of  the  flock  was 
found  stark  and  stiff,  with  his  throat  terribly 
torn,  while  the  setter,  wholly  uninjured,  was 
wagging  his  tail  to  get  out. 

There  is  a  loping  dog,  a  cross  between  the 
pointer  and  setter — sometimes  rough  and  some- 
times smooth — which  we  would  caution  our 
young  readers  to  have  nothing  to  do  with.  There 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  27 

is  a  taint  of  the  hound  or  cur  in  his  back  stock ; 
he  has  no  style  in  his  hunting,  is  occasionally 
sullen  and  ferocious,  displays  comparatively 
little  affection  for  his  master,  and  often  proves 
to  be  an  inveterate  sheep-killer. 

Mr.  Krider  once  owned  a  dog  of  this  descrip- 
tion, which  was  possessed  of  no  good  qualities, 
except  an  excellent  nose  and  great  steadiness  on 
his  point.  He  was  gaunt,  coarse:coated,  had  a 
gloomy  and  reserved  air,  as  if  constantly  brood- 
ing over  his  misdeeds,  and  showed  so  little  con- 
cern for  his  master's  interests  as  to  be  constantly 
snarling  and  snapping  at  his  customers.  Being 
unwilling  to  slay  the  brute,  and  supposing  that 
his  temper  was  tried  in  the  store,  his  owner  pre- 
sented him  to  one  of  his  workmen.  In  a  few 
days  he  bit  the  man's  wife,  when  his  new  master 
incontinently  discharged  a  load  of  buckshot  in 
his  breast,  and  dismissed  Growler  to  the  shades 
forever.  Some  time  after  his  exit,  the  farmer 
from  whom  he  had  been  purchased,  acknow- 
ledged that  he  had  strongly  suspected  him  of 
destroying  sheep. 

What  a  contrast  to  these  renegades  does  the 
well-known  shepherd's  dog  of  the  old  world 
present !  His  instinct,  said  to  be  superior  to  all 
other  varieties,  is  solely  directed  to  the  preser- 
vation of  the  flock. 


28  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

How  faithfully,  how  completely,  he  fulfils  the 
duties  of  a  guardian,  the  reader  is,  doubtless, 
well  aware.  In  the  vast  fazendas,  or  cattle 
estates,  of  southern  Brazil,  where  the  flocks  have 
a  multitude  of  enemies,  two  dogs  are  considered 
sufficient  to  shepherd  a  thousand  sheep.  But 
these  dogs,  as  soon  as  whelped,  are  suckled  by 
a  ewe ;  no  food  is  given  to  them ;  at  night  they 
are  shut  up  in  the  fold;  during  the  day  they 
accompany  the  flock  to  the  field ;  and  when  full 
grown,  instinctively  assume  the  office  of  its 
guardian  and  protector.  While  the  flock  is 
grazing,  the  vigilance  of  the  guardian,  directed 
alike  against  the  hordes  of  wild  dogs,  which 
infest  the  plains,  and  the  birds  of  prey,  which 
pick  out  the  eyes  of  the  lambs,  is  argus-eyed 
and  unceasing.  When  a  ewe  lambs  in  the 
field,  and  the  lamb  is  too  weak  to  follow  its 
mother,  one  dog  will  remain  for  some  time  beside 
it;  if  he  finds  that  it  is  still  unable  to  walk,  as 
evening  draws  near,  he  carefully  takes  it  in  his 
mouth  and  carries  it  home  to  the  fold. 

They  have  the  same  wild  and  melancholy 
aspect,  and  the  same  indisposition  to  associate 
with  strange  dogs,  which  distinguishes  the  shep- 
herd's dog  of  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees. 

Here  the  naturalist  has  a  grand  picture  for 
contemplation  and  study,  for  here  we  have  ex- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  29 

hibited,  in  a  curious  light,  two  traits  which  most 
ennoble  the  dog — fidelity  and  courage.  No\v  to 
shift  the  portrait. 

Some  of  our  readers  will  remember  to  have 
noticed,  a  year  or  two  since,  three  dogs,  without 
masters,  wandering  together  about  the  streets 
of  the  city — sometimes  seen  lying,  side  by  side. 
on  a  door  step,  or  in  the  shade  of  a  garden  wall ; 
sometimes  foraging  in  the  alleys  and  empty 
market  houses ;  but  from  their  deformed  appear- 
ance, constant  companionship,  and  absolute  dis- 
connection with  man,  always  impressing  the 
mind  of  the  beholder  with  a  feeling  of  desolation 
strangely  foreign  to  the  scene.  One,  a  female, 
with  a  broken  limb,  curiously  distorted,  was  a 
gaunt,  hollow-eyed  brute,  upon  whose  infirmi- 
ties the  others  seemed  to  attend,  as  we  observed 
that  she  was  always  the  first  to  move  on  after  a 
halt;  another,  an  old  mongrel  mastiff,  had  lost 
his  upper  lip,  which  gave  him  a  very  unsightly 
look ;  but  the  third  was  perfect  in  his  parts — a 
meek,  mild-eyed  cur,  who  appeared  to  have 
joined  the  two  misanthropes  because  he  had  been 
fairly  forsaken  by  the  rest  of  the  world. 

There  was  something  strongly  expressive  of 
apathetical  indifference  to  the  beings  around 
them,  in  the  aspect  of  the  two  first.  Strictly 


30  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

shunning  the  society  of  their  race,  they  seemed 
an  isolated  community  in  the  midst  of  strangers. 
The  human  voice,  no  matter  how  kindly  tem- 
pered, produced  no  visible  effect,  except  to  make 
them  move  listlessly  on.  The  last  would  acknow- 
ledge sympathy  with  man,  by  wagging  his  tail 
when  spoken  to ;  but  no  artifice  could  induce 
him  to  loiter  behind,  when  his  companions  had 
once  resumed  their  way. 

Some  mysterious  feeling  appeared  to  bind 
them  inseparably  together.  They  never  dis- 
agreed, and  were  always  in  good  condition.  We 
have  been  assured,  by  a  gentleman  of  the  highest 
respectability,  that  his  family  have  repeatedly 
seen  the  last,  when  food  was  offered  him,  quietly 
go  and  deposit  it  at  the  feet  of  his  friends. 

And  thus,  for  several  successive  seasons,  the 
strange  trio  were  seen  in  various  parts  of  the 
crowded  city — always  together,  and  always  by 
themselves — lodging,  no  one  cared  where,  and 
eventually  disappearing,  no  one  knew  how.* 

*  One  fact,  which  had  nearly  escaped  our  memory,  while  it 
proves  that  even  the  maternal  instinct  did  not  interfere  with  their 
bond  of  attachment,  goes  to  show  that  the  fern  ale  must,  at  the  period 
referred  to,  have  had  some  place  of  shelter.  The  last  time  we  saw 
them,  her  appearance  indicated  that  she  had  littered  but  a  few 
days  previous;  but  where  her  whelps  were  concealed,  or  where  she 
rejoined  her  companions  on  their  daily  rounds,  we  are  unable  to 
say. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  31 

We  have  no  comments  to  offer  upon  this  sin- 
gular alliance.  Bulwer,  in  his  "  Children  of 
Night,"  makes  Messrour,  the  immortal,  say, 
that  in  a  period  of  five  thousand  years,  spent  in 
the  study  of  man,  he  had  not  yet  discovered  the 
mysteries  in  the  heart  of  a  boor ;  how  then,  shall 
we  attempt  to  pry  through  that  impenetrable 
veil  which  the  Creator  of  all  things,  in  his  Om- 
niscence,  has  placed  between  man  made  after 
his  own  image,  and  the  brutes  over  which  he 
has  given  him  sway? 

Dogs  sometimes  manifest  a  taste  for  the  sweets 
of  liberty  in  rather  a  whimsical  way. 

A  friend  of  ours  once  owned  a  beautiful  setter, 
who,  unfortunately,  preferring  a  wilderness  to  a 
garden,  uprooted  rose-bushes,  grubbed  up  gera- 
niums, tore  down  grape  vines,  and  made  bone 
depositories  of  strawberry  beds.  He  was,  of 
course,  put  on  chain.  On  the  first  opportunity 
he  disappeared,  and  for  weeks  nothing  was  heard 
of  his  whereabouts.  At  last  they  found  him  in 
the  street,  with  a  collar  on  his  neck,  bearing  the 
name  and  residence  of  a  new  owner.  An  expla- 
nation ensued,  when  it  was  discovered  that  he 
had  attached  himself  to  the  person  in  question, 
with  whom  he  had  been  residing  ever  since  his 
disappearance,  and  in  whose  company  he  had 


32  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

repeatedly  passed  his  old  master's  residence, 
without  manifesting  the  least  signs  of  recogni- 
tion. Indeed,  from  his  apparent  indifference  to 
all  parts  of  the  city,  and  his  off-hand  way  of 
domiciliating  in  his  new  quarters,  it  had  been 
supposed  that  he  had  strayed  away  from  some 
stranger,  en  route  to  a  distant  part  of  the 
country.  He  was  again  chained  to  his  old  dog- 
house, and,  in  the  course  of  time,  again  escaped. 
A  month  elapsed,  and  his  disconsolate  master, 
while  in  the  act  of  leaving  Mr.  Krider's  store, 

o 

situated  on  the  north-east  corner  of  Second  and 
Walnut  streets,  between  the  two  principle  mar- 
ket houses  of  the  city,  again  encountered  his 
lost  property,  in  excellent  condition — this  time 
hand  and  glove  with  a  butcher's  boy,  who  was 
carrying  home  a  basket  of  meat. 

Our  friend  at  once  stopped  short,  planting 
himself  before  the  bulkhead,  directly  in  the 
dog's  way. 

The  animal  passed  the  critical  spot  with  the 
utmost  nonchalance,  and  was  wending  his  way 
to  parts  unknown,  when  his  master,  provoked 
as  well  as  amused  with  the  cut  direct,  pro- 
nounced, in  a  voice  of  thunder,  the  awful  word 
"Mart!" 

"I  really  thought,"  said  he,  in  relating  the  anec- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  33 

dote,  "the  dog  would  have  sunk  down  through 
the  bricks.  It  was  laughable  to  notice  the  rueful 
countenance  of  the  scapegrace,  as  he  crouched 
on  the  pavement,  with  a  slight  twitch  of  his  tail, 
one  eye  fixed  imploringly  on  me,  and  the  other 
turned  towards  the  boy,  over  whose  chubby  face 
was  beginning  to  steal  the  conviction  that  they 
two  must  part.  The  affair  reminded  me  strongly, 
at  the  moment,  of  two  line's  in  one  of  Scott's 
border  ballads,  which  may  thus  be  parodied  : 

The  conscious  cur  fell  to  the  ground, 

And  inly  muttered,  'found!  found!  found  !'  " 

It  is  now  some  years  since  Mart  slipped  his 
collar  in  toto,  for  he  continued  in  his  vagrant 
habits  to  the  last,  at  one  time  attaching  himself 
to  a  rigger  in  Reed  street,  and  upon  another  to 
a  recruiting  sergeant  of  marines.  Influenced 
by  his  impatience  of  restraint,  he  may,  possibly, 
have  gone  off  to  join  the  Mormons. 

His  master,  with  a  pertinacity  almost  as  hu- 
morous, insists  upon  it  that  he  will  yet  turn  up, 
when  least  expected,  and  is  yearly  in  the  habit 
of  visiting  the  menagerie,  in  the  hopes  of  finding 
him  attached  to  a  caravan. 

This  dog  was  of  hardy  constitution,  a  great 
ranger,  and  uniformly  travelled  a  fast  gait. 

Dogs  are  a  superstitious  race.     We  have  seen 


34  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

them  tremble  and  skulk  from  the  sight  of  their 
shadows  moving  on  the  wall.  Like  horses,  they 
are  subject  to  violent  paroxysms  of  fright.  We 
have  heard  of  a  watch-dog  that  was  frightened  into 
convulsions  by  the  sudden  apparition  of  a  man 
in  a  white  coat ;  and  the  most  curious  exhibition 
of  mortal  fear  which  we  ever  witnessed,  was 
consequent  upon  the  introduction  of  an  Isle  of 
Sky  dog  to  a  hideous  Paraguay  ape. 

Dogs  dream.  We  have  seen  the  animal  start 
on  its  legs  from  an  uneasy  slumber,  and  bark 
vaguely,  yet  vehemently,  as  if  at  some  object  in 
the  shadow  land.  On  being  spoken  to  it  ceased 
at  once,  and,  whining  and  mumbling,  again  ad- 
dressed itself  to  sleep.  No  doubt  can  be  enter- 
tained of  the  fact  that,  in  some  degree,  at  least, 
their  "  lives  are  two-fold,"  and  that  they  some- 
times re-enact  in  sleep  the  drama  of  their  waking 
hours. 

A  merchant  of  this  city  was  possessed  of  a 
poodle,  which  for  years  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
bringing  him  his  boots  at  a  certain  hour  in  the 
morning,  preparatory  to  their  usual  walk  to  the 
counting  room.  The  dog  usually  slept  at  the 
foot  of  the  staircase,  at  the  second  landing  of 
which  was  an  entry,  leading  to  his  master's  bed- 
chamber. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  35 

The  latter  was  once  aroused,  at  the  dead  hour 
of  night,  by  a  strange  scratching  at  the  door, 
which  being  cautiously  opened,  old  Hugo  walked 
slowly  in,  with  his  eyes  wide  open  and  a  boot  in 
his  mouth.  He  gravely  deposited  this  at  the 
merchant's  feet  and  started  for  its  fellow,  but, 
upon  being  called  back  and  reproved,  seemed  at 
once  to  comprehend  his  mistake. 

He  then  took  up  the  boot,  and  as  the  voice  of 
the  watchman  sounded  the  hour,  looking  ridicu- 
lously enough,  sneaked  down  stairs  to  bed  again. 

This  is  the  only  case  of  somnambulism  in  the 
brute  creation,  which  we  remember  to  have 
heard  of. 

The  same  person  was  afterwards  attacked  by 
a  fit  of  the  gout,  which  confined  him  to  his  house 
several  weeks. 

On  the  morning  succeeding  the  attack  the 
boots  appeared  in  his  chamber,  as  usual;  the 
invalid  pointed  to  his  swollen  feet,  swathed  in 
flannel  and  resting  upon  pillows,  whereupon  the 
.poodle,  mistaking  his  meaning,  flew  furiously  at 
the  bandages,  and  commenced  tearing  them  off, 
giving  the  unfortunate  sufferer  the  most  exquisite 
agony  in  his  well-meant  but  injudicious  attempts 
to  remove  the  embargo  on  the  boots. 

But  to  come  nearer  home.     Observe  your  dog 


36  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

when  he  feeds — hew  his  tail  goes  and  his  eyes 
pour  out  thankfulness !  At  every  mouthful  he 
looks  up  to  show  his  gratitude.  We  will  venture 
to  say  that  few  Christians  feel  a  livelier  sense  of 
devotion  at  their  meals.  If  he  indulges  in  any 
mirth  at  his  dinner,  it  is  all  of  a  grateful  order. 
The  hand  which  feeds  him  is  his  divinity,  and, 
of  course,  he  looks  no  higher  in  returning  his 
thanks. 

Turn  now  to  his  distant  connexion,  the  cat. 
How  she  growls,  like  a  tiger  over  its  prey  !  Mark 
how  she  gorges,  only  purring  and  looking  with 
fierce  eyes  for  more  when  the  last  morsel  is 
finished.  After  that,  she  washes  her  whiskers 
with  a  world-wise  air,  and  the  entire  line  of  Adam 
is  nothing  to  her  until  she  grows  hungry  again. 

There  is  a  deal  of  point,  after  all,  in  the  juve- 
nile line : 

"Behold  Miss  Pussy!  how  happy  she  looks!" 

We  have  a  sort  of  reverence  for  the  authority 
of  the  little  book  quoted  from. 

It  is  ever  associated  in  our  mind  with  the  per- 
son of  a  deceased  old  lady,  who,  we  believe,  led 
half  the  people  in  the  district  in  which  we  were 
born,  through  its  pictured  pages. 

It  will  not  do,  gentle  reader,  to  cavil  at  its 
couplets.  If  Grimalkin  is  happy,  as  the  learned 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  37 

authority  intimates,  let  us  not  inquire  too  closely 
into  the  sources  of  her  tranquility.  Let  us  rather 
go  back  to  Ponto,  whom  we  left  quietly  eating 
his  dinner. 

Well  he  repays,  by  a  lifetime  of  fidelity,  all  the 
care  which  you  may  bestow  upon  him.  What- 
ever class  of  dogs  he  may  belong  to,  according  to 
his  capacity,  he  will  studiously  contribute  to  your 
interests  or  your  sports. 

He  is  invaluable  to  the  sportsman  and  the 
agriculturist,  and  the  careful  housekeeper  will 
hardly  sleep  sound  o'  nights,  unless  Towser  be 
loose  in  the  yard. 

He  is  fond  of  fun,  too,  and  really  epicurean  in 
his  mode  of  seeking  comfort.  Much  he  prizes  a 
snug,  warm  lodging  in  winter,  and  a  perfect  lux- 
ury it  is  to  see  him  enjoying  a  roll  upon  the 
sunny  sod  on  some  cool,  clear  day  in  the  fall, 
when  the  north-west  wind  is  stripping  the  trees, 
and  the  plaintive  calls  of  the  covey,  scattered, 
perhaps,  by  the  hawk,  are  heard  over  by  the 
stubble-field. 

It  is  a  pleasant  thing,  too,  to  see  him  lying 
close  in  the  woods,  watching  your  eye  as  you 
stand,  while  the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  red- 
den the  solemn  trunks,  and  still  communing 
with  autumn,  you  feel,  as  it  were,  the  breath  of 
3 


38  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

of  winter  afar  off,  as  a  chill  wind  sighs  through 
the  fading  foliage,  or  mournfully  rustles  the 
withered  leaves.  Poor  Ponto!  though  he  feel 
not  the  strange  delight  which  waits  upon  the 
change  of  season — though  he  knows  not  the  twi- 
light hour,  yet  well  it  becomes  him  to  live  the 
comrade  of  kings  and  princes,  and  well  he  de- 
serves to  be  remembered  by  the  genius  which 
hallows  the  scene. 

Bulwer,  Burns,  Byron  and  Scott,  have  all 
owned  strong  sympathies  with  the  dog. 

If  our  young  friends  should  be  fond  of  field 
sports,  they  should  never  rate  the  value  of  Ponto 
solely  by  his  professional  accomplishments  of 
finding  and  pointing  game.  As  he  is  the  zeal- 
ous adjutor  and  partaker  of  your  diversions,  he 
should  also,  in  some  measure,  be  your  compa- 
nion and  your  friend. 

You  may  smile,  but  well  will  it  be  with  you , 
when  the  flush  of  youth  is  passed,  if  you  do  not 
then  rate  his  fidelity  higher  than  the  standard  of 
friendship,  as  it  exists  in  the  gay  world. 

You  will  find  nothing  superior  in  pathos  to  the 
tales  which  are  told  of  the  faithfulness  of  the 
dog. 

It  is  not  many  months  since  we  saw  in  the 
public  prints,  an  account  of  a  party  of  hunters, 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  DOG.  39 

who  had  discovered,  in  the  far  west,  the  corpse 
of  an  Indian,  extended  on  the  prairie,  surrounded 
by  a  gang  of  wolves,  which  a  famishing  dog  still 
kept  at  bay.  What  a  picture  for  an  artist  to  de- 
lineate, and  how  forcibly  it  reminds  us  of  the 
touching  lines  of  the  poet ! 

"  And  he  was  faithful  to  a  corpse, 
And  kept  the  birds  and  beasts 
Which  hungered  there,  at  bay." 

When  those  whom  you  are  most  bound  to  love 
and  reverence,  have  passed  down  to  the  grave — 
when  friends  fall  off,  and  the  darker  side  of  hu- 
manity becomes  more  and  more  apparent,  as  you 
walk  through  life — then,  and  not  till  then,  you 
may  learn  to  prize  the  fidelity  of  a  dog. 

His  leaping  heart  is  still  for  thine, 

Without  a  thought  of  guile, 
And  in  his  eyes  his  truth  doth  shine, 

As  beauty  may  not  smile. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING. 

WILSON'S  SNIPE— SCOLOPAX  WILSONII. 

Description. — "  The  snipe  is  eleven  inches 
long,  and  seventeen  in  extent;  the  bill  is  more 
than  two  and  a  half  inches  long,  fluted  length- 
wise, of  a  brown  color,  and  black  towards  the 
tip,  where  it  is  very  smooth  while  the  bird  is 
alive,  but  soon  after  it  is  killed,  becomes  dim- 
pled, like  the  end  of  a  thimble ;  crown  black, 
divided  by  an  irregular  line  of  pale  brown; 
another  broader  one,  of  the  same  tint,  passes 
over  each  eye ;  from  the  bill  to  the  eye,  there  is 
a  narrow,  dusky  line ;  neck  and  upper  part  of 
the  breast  pale  brown,  variegated  with  touches 
of  white  and  dusky ;  chin,  pale ;  back  and  sca- 
pulars, deep  velvety  black,  the  latter  elegantly 
marbled  with  waving  lines  of  ferruginous,  and 
broadly  edged  exteriorly  with  white ;  wings 
plain  dusky,  all  the  feathers,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  coverts,  tipped  with  white ;  shoulder  of  the 
wing,  deep  dusky  brown,  exterior  quill,  edged 
with  white ;  tail  coverts  long,  reaching  within 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  of  the  tip,  and  of  a  pale 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  41 

rust  color,  spotted  with  black;  tail  rounded, 
deep  black,  ending  in  a  bar  of  bright  ferrugi- 
nous, crossed  with  narrow,  waving  lines  of 
black,  and  tipped  with  whitish;  belly,  pure 
white ;  sides,  barred  with  dusky ;  legs  and  feet, 
a  very  pale  ashy  green;  sometimes  the  whole 
thighs  and  sides  of  the  vent  are  tarred  with 
dusky  and  white.  The  female  is  more  obscure 
in  her  colors ;  the  white  on  the  belly  being  less 
pure,  and  the  black  on  the  back  not  so  deep." 

The  winter  of  183-  had  been  very  severe  in 
the  middle  and  eastern  states. 

In  Pennsylvania  it  was  marked  by  high  winds, 
heavy  falls  of  snow,  and  unusually  low  depres- 
sions of  the  mercury. 

Deer,  floundering  in  the  deep  drifts,  were 
killed  in  great  numbers  by  the  hunters  of  the 
upper  districts,  and  in  the  counties  adjoining 
Philadelphia  the  smaller  varieties  of  game  nearly 
all  perished.  Grouse  and  hares  were  starved 
out  in  the  hills,  or  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  foxes; 
partridges  came  and  fed  from  the  threshing- 
floors  ;  larks  were  found  dead  in  the  hay -ricks ; 
crows  alit  upon  the  offals  in  the  barnyard ;  and 
it  became  necessary  to  keep  the  poultry  housed, 
and  their  crops  well  filled,  to  save  them  from 
the  hawks,  or  from  freezing  to  death  on  their 
roosts. 


42  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

About  the  middle  of  February  the  severity  of 
the  season  abated.  The  mercury  rose  to  a  genial 
mark;  the  sky  became  beautifully  clear  and 
cloudless  ;  the  ground  thawed ;  the  snow  rapidly 
disappeared ;  and  in  a  few  days  the  notes  of  the 
song-sparrow  and  the  blue-bird,  gave  cheering 
intimations  of  the  near  approach  of  spring. 

Some  old  farmers  in  our  vicinity  professed 
little  faith  in  the  assurances  of  these  welcome 
visitors.  Sagely  shaking  their  heads,  they  hus- 
banded their  hay-stacks,  as  they  still  looked 
askant  at  the  hills  and  the  blue  air ;  but  as  the 
weather,  uninfluenced  by  their  forebodings,  still 
continued  mild,  we  made  much  of  every  war- 
bled note,  and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  croakers, 
willing  to  believe  that  the  Solomons  of  meadow 
and  upland  were  mistaken  for  once. 

About  this  period  we  received,  through  the 
village  post  office,  a  note  from  an  acquaintance 
in  town,  with  an  enclosed  dispatch  from  old 
Pierson  of  the  Pier,  announcing,  in  his  usual 
emphatic  way,  that  the  meadows  above  and  be- 
low Pennsgrove,  New  Jersey,  were  fairly  alive 
with  snipe. 

We  had  already  observed  woodcock  flying  in 
the  evening  twilight,  and  began  to  flush  them, 
by  day,  in  a  woods  of  some  extent,  where  they 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  43 

had  regularly  bred  for  many  years.  Although 
then  anxious  to  obtain  a  closer  insight  into  the 
habits  of  these  solitary  and  retiring  birds,  which, 
despite  the  observations  of  ornithologists,  are 
still  involved  in  a  certain  degree  of  mystery,  we, 
of  course,  abandoned  our  investigations  on  the 
receipt  of  this  intelligence,  and  summoning 
Czar,  who  was  in  fine  health  and  spirits,  doubt- 
less anticipating  work,  set  off  at  once  for  the 
city,  and  dropped  into  Krider's  on  the  morning 
of  the  succeeding  day. 

Our  arrangements  were  soon  made,  and  well 
aware  that,  should  the  wind  haul  to  the  north- 
west, with  a  lowering  sky,  this  flight  of  birds 
would  leave  the  low  grounds  on  the  river,  and 
seek  shelter  inland,  we  took  the  cars  to  Wil- 
mington, intending  to  cross  the  Delaware  to 
Pennsgrove,  if  possible,  on  the  same  afternoon. 

On  the  road  down  we  will,  with  the  reader's 
permission,  give  a  brief  account  of  the  game 
which  we  were  in  quest  of,  and  of  the  descrip- 
tion of  dog,  whether  rough  or  smooth,  most  to 
be  preferred  in  following  in  this  exciting  sport. 

It  may  not  be  altogether  superfluous  to  remind 
the  general  reader,  that  there  is  but  one  species 
of  snipe,  known  to  our  sportsmen,  which  will  lie 
to,  and  can  be  hunted  with  dogs.  This  is  the 


44  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

English  snipe,  once  so  called,  but  now,  by  gene- 
ral consent,  named  after  the  great  American 
ornithologist  who  first  pointed  out  the  difference 
between  it  and  the  European  variety.  This 
difference,  though  apparently  trifling,  was  suffi- 
cient, in  the  judgment  of  Temminck,  Bonaparte, 
and  other  distinguished  writers,  to  entitle  it  to 
the  rank  of  a  distinct  species,  universally  known 
among  naturalists  of  the  present  day  as  Wilson's 
snipe. 

The  other  American  varieties  possess  nothing 
to  attract  the  pursuit  of  the  sportsman,  and  are 
therefore  abandoned ,  sans  ceremo?iie,  to  the  mar- 
ket shooter.  The  history  of  each  will  be  found 
well  marked  and  interesting  in  its  place ;  but. 
ne  sutor  ultra  crepidam,  as  a  sophymore  would 
say ;  wre  have  no  room  for  it  here. 

Wilson's  snipe  has  been  so  often  described  in 
books,  from  the  tip  of  the  bill  to  the  ends  of  the 
tail  feathers,  and  is  so  well  known,  that  we 
might  almost  forego  the  minute  details  of  its 
dimensions  and  markings. 

From  the  uncertainty  attending  its  move- 
ments on  the  feeding  grounds,  the  swiftness  and 
eccentricity  of  its  flight,  the  exposure  and  hard 
hunting  required  in  its  pursuit,  the  rare  sport  it 
often  affords  when  found,  its  game-look  as  it 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  45 

springs  from  the  marshes,  and  when  brought  to 
bag,  as  well  as  its  delicacy  011  the  table,  it  has 
long  been  an  object  of  especial  interest  to  the 
keenest  and  most  imaginative  of  our  sportsmen. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  one  thing  which  makes 
snipe  shooting  pre-eminently  attractive  to  some 
sportsmen,  is  the  delightful  state  of  uncertainty 
which  now,  more  than  ever,  attends  the  pursuit 
of  this  species  of  game. 

Partridge  shooting,  so  long  upheld  as  the  beau 
ideal  of  sport,  savors  rather  too  much  of  the  pre- 
serves to  be  exactly  to  the  taste  of  a  thorough 
hunter.  In  a  country  well  stocked  with  game  of 
this  kind,  whenever  there  are  stubbles,  at  the 
proper  time  of  day  there  you  will  find  birds ;  and 
there  is  something  in  the  half  domesticated  nature 
of  this  familiar  little  member  of  the  gallinaceous 
order,  in  the  loud,  clear  "  all  right"  of  the  male, 
the  tender  and  anxious  calls  of  the  scattered  co- 
vey, and  the  extreme  terror  which  they  display 
in  hiding  away  from  the  dogs,  which,  after  a  few 
brace  are  killed,  half  disarms  many  a  reflective 
sportsman.  With  the  snipe,  on  the  contrary,  we 
have  no  sympathies  of  this  sort ;  he  is  not  one  of 
us,  but,  comparatively  speaking,  a  sort  of  winged 
cosmopolite ;  is  often  wary  and  shy,  and  as  soon 
as  he  springs,  begins  to  exercise  his  ingenuity  to 


46  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

escape  your  aim — now  darting,  like  a  flash,  in 
zigzag  lines,  and  now  soaring  sky-high,  as  if  to 
top  the  range  of  your  piece. 

Woodcock  shooting  in  "  the  cripple"  always 
reminds  us  of  a  party  of  madmen  shouting  and 
banging  away  at  vampire  bats,  in  the  eternal  twi- 
light of  some  equatorial  forests.  Rail  shooting,  if 
practiced  more  than  once  or  twice  in  a  season, 
becomes  too  tiresome  and  monotonous  to  possess 
much  interest,  except  for  the  sum  total  boated. 
Duck  shooting  is  a  noble  diversion;  but  what 
thrill  of  expectation  is  equal  to  that  which  the 
sportsman  feels,  when,  after  a  fruitless  hunt  over 
acres  and  acres  of  heavy  ground,  he  beholds  in 
the  distance  the  trusty  and  indefatigable  compa- 
nion of  his  toil,  standing  steadily  to  his  point  at 
last — or  what  a  more  game  sight  than  the  grey, 
phantom-like  look  of  the  wandering  snipe,  as 
uttering  its  peculiar  cry,  it  flits  over  a  wild  marsh, 
on  a  March  or  November  day? 

Being  all  open  shooting,  the  shooter,  of  course, 
has  an  opportunity  of  observing  all  the  move- 
ments of  his  dogs,  and  also  of  the  bird  after  it  has 
sprung ;  and  on  this  account  alone  many  shoot- 
ers declare  that  they  had  rather  have  two  days  of 
good  sport  at  snipe,  than  a  whole  season  at  part- 
ridges or  rail. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  47 

But  why  are  snipe  uncertain  in  their  move- 
ments on  the  feeding  ground  ? 

It  is  supposed  to  be  owing,  in  some  measure, 
to  the  nature  of  their  food,  and  to  the  enormous 
quantity  which  they  require,  in  common  with 
other  birds  of  their  genus,  and  also  to  their  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  influences  of  the  weather — at 
no  season  of  the  year  more  subject  to  sudden  fluc- 
tuations of  temperature  than  early  in  the  spring. 
Always  feeding  from  choice  in  open  marshes, 
they  may  be  found  in  sufficient  numbers  to  afford 
excellent  sport  to-day,  when  the  weather  is  mo- 
derately warm,  and  light  clouds,  borne  on  a  brisk 
breeze  from  the  south-west,  cast  their  shadows  on 
bare  bog  or  tussock,  as  they  drift  over  head.  But 
should  the  wind  shift,  and  come  on  to  blow 
strong  from  the  north-east,  as  is  often  the  case 
during  the  night,  the  next  morning  you  may  tra- 
verse the  marshes  in  vain,  in  the  face  of  a  lower- 
ing sky ;  the  birds  are  off  for  cover ;  and  unless 
you  have  a  particular  fancy  to  be  detained  three 
or  four  days  in  a  snow  storm,  at  a  country  inn, 
you  had  better  be  off,  too,  for  you  will  have  no 
more  shooting  on  that  excursion. 

This  is  very  apt  to  occur  when  the  birds  are 
in  advance  of  the  season,  and  has  happened  with 
us  again  and  again  in  March,  and  even  in  April. 


48  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

How  often  have  shooters,  knowing  that  birds 
were  on  the  meadows  below,  and  not  wishing  to 
start  off  on  Friday  or  Saturday,  postponed  their 
departure  until  the  following  Monday,  when  a 
wet  gale  from  the  north-east  has  set  in,  and  no 
further  accounts  of  snipe  have  been  received 
until  the  wind  hauled  to  a  more  auspicious  point. 

Independent  of  this,  some  writers  assert  that 
the  snipe  is,  naturally,  of  a  restless  and  capricious 
disposition — that  conscious  of  his  powers  of 
flight,  he  often  whimsically  takes  to  wing  when 
none  of  the  foregoing  causes  are  known  to  exist, 
apparently  delighting  in  his  extent  of  range ;  and 
at  last  suddenly  drops  down  from  the  field  of  air 
in  some  new  feeding  ground,  miles  and  miles 
from  the  spot  which  he  so  unaccountably  aban- 
doned. 

We  have  no  serious  objection  to  investing  our 
favorite  with  this  etherial  character,  making  him, 
so  to  speak,  a  sort  of  "dainty  ^Eriel"  to  his  own 
wild  will ;  but  we  suspect,  nevertheless,  that  he 
is  not  exactly  like  the  renowned  Scotch  geese, 
who  liked  their  play  better  than  their  food. 

As  his  powers  of  digestion  are  equally  well 
known  with  those  of  his  flight,  we  are  inclined 
to  think  that  he  has  still  a  wary  eye  to  the  main 
chance,  and  that  his  eccentric  coquettings  writh 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  49 

his  feeding  grounds  are,  in  some  degree,  at  least, 
dependent  upon  an  abundance  or  scarcity  of 
food. 

Again  and  again  has  the  sportsman,  by  chance 
or  the  range  and  instinct  of  his  dog,  discovered 
some  choice  piece  of  ground,  of  no  great  extent, 
which  the  birds,  though  allowed  not  a  moment's 
rest,  showed  the  greatest  indisposition  to  leave. 

We  remember  to  have  found  this  to  be  the 
case  many  years  ago,  in  a  small  meadow  on  Duck 
Creek,  immediately  back  of  what  is  called  Smyr- 
na's Landing.  No  steamboat  had  ever  entered 
the  creek  at  this  period,  and  the  place  was  com- 
paratively unknown  to  shooters. 

On  the  meadow  referred  to  snipe  were  feeding 
in  such  numbers,  that  had  not  the  dog  been  a 
steady  old  setter,  his  presence  would  have  been 
a  decided  disadvantage.  As  it  was  he  did  not 
move  five  yards  in  advance  of  us,  and  we  kept  on 
flushing  and  firing,  until,  though  then  an  indif- 
ferent snipe  shot,  we  had  bagged  seventy-two 
birds.  When  the  sun  sank  upon  our  sport,  the 
ground  was  covered  with  wads  as  with  a  slight 
sprinkling  of  snow. 

The  next  morning,  at  the  instance  of  the  ac- 
quaintance with  whom  we  were  sojourning,  we 
shifted  the  scene  by  shooting  in  the  stubbles ; 


50  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

and  upon  visiting  the  snipe  ground  on  the  suc- 
ceeding day,  hardly  a  solitary  individual  was  to 
be  found. 

The  signs  of  the  aifray  were  there,  but  the 
meadow  was  deserted  except  by  a  few  crippled 
birds.  After  securing  these,  all  we  could  do  was 
to  sit  on  a  convenient  stump  and  smile  at  the  mo- 
tions of  Dash,  who,  remembering  the  first  day's 
shooting,  could  scarcely  convince  himself  that 
the  game  had  flown,  despite  the  evidence  of  his 
nose. 

This  flight  of  snipe  were,  of  course,  migrating 
southward,  and  having  pitched  into  an  isolated 
spot  where  food  was  abundant,  were  extremely 
loath  to  leave  it,  until  their  wants  were  satisfied 
and  their  powers  recruited  for  new  efforts  on  the 
wing. 

It  is  proper  to  state  that  the  place  where  the 
birds  were  found,  was  composed  of  a  few  acres  of 
bare,  black  loam  and  tussocks,  flanked  on  either 
side  by  a  thick  woods. 

Snipe  are  not,  moreover,  so  extremely  sensi- 
tive to  frost  as  the  books  would  lead  the  unprac- 
tised shooter  to  suppose.  Any  person  who  has 
hunted  these  birds  for  successive  seasons,  will 
tell  you  that  he  has  killed  snipe  in  considerable 
numbers  both  in  the  spring  and  fall,  when  the 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  51 

ice  was  almost  thick  enough  to  bear  his  tread. 
We,  ourselves,  have  done  this  more  than  once  in 
particular  situations,  at  Pennsgrove  and  Dennis- 
ville,  New  Jersey.  A  severe  frost,  sufficient,  so 
to  speak,  to  seal  the  marshes  hermetically,  of 
course,  necessitates  them  to  extend  their  flight 
beyond  the  sphere  of  its  influence,  by  cutting  off 
their  supplies ;  strong  easterly  blows,  whether 
wet  or  dry,  drive  them  sooner  to  cover;*  rain 
makes  them  restless  and  indisposed  to  lie  to  the 
dogs,  and  eventually  forces  them  into  the  withered 
rushes  and  cornfields ;  but  if  caught  by  a  snow 
storm  on  the  marshes — as  every  old  sportsman 
knows  is  sometimes  the  case,  in  spite  of  what  a 
recent  writer  calls  their  meteorological  faculties — 
they  seem  to  lose  their  natural  instinct,  and  will 
huddle  helplessly  under  the  lee  of  a  hill  or  bank, 
in  which  situations  seven  and  eight  have  been 
killed  by  a  farmer's  boy  at  a  single  shot. 

As  regards  the  manner  of  hunting  "  gray 
snipe,"  and  their  sprite-like  efforts  to  escape  when 
flushed,  we  are  no  book-makers,  and  the  less  we 
dilate  on  these  subjects  the  better  for  all  parties 
concerned. 


*  At  Mannahawkin,  on  the  New  Jersey  coast,  Mr.  Krider  has 
found  them  on  such  occasions  harboring  in  the  "cripples." 


52  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

If  you  are  naturally  a  sportsman,  you  will  soon 
learn  how  to  approach  and  to  kill  them,  albeit, 
on  the  first  few  trials,  the  eccentricities  which 
they  practice  on  the  wing,  and  the  elfish  ease 
with  which  they  seem  to  evade  the  contents  of 
both  barrels,  will  leave  an  impression  on  your 
mind,  which,  however  annoying  then,  becomes  a 
very  pleasant  and  exciting  reminiscence  after 
you  have  learned  how  to  knock  them  down,  right 
and  left,  secundem  artem.  In  this,  gentle  reader, 
consists  the  gist  of  the  secret  of  the  true  sports- 
man's love  for  snipe  shooting.  As  to  exposure 
and  hard  work,  no  man  who  has  not  a  quick  spirit, 
sound  health,  and  wrell-strung  muscles,  should 
attempt  to  hunt  snipe. 

We  have  known,  too,  a  life  of  indolence  and  a 
consequent  disposition  to  become  stout,  to  spoil 
more  than  one  keen  snipe  shooter.  But  let  a  man 
not  too  much  encumbered  with  infirmities  of  the 
flesh — by  which  we  simply  mean  fat — carry  with 
him  to  the  marshes  a  fellow  feeling  for  snipe,  in 
the  inverse  ratio  to  their  wary  and  weird-like 
propensities,  and  the  sport  then  compares  with 
some  other  varieties  presently  to  come  under 
notice — as  grouse  shooting  on  the  Scotch  muirs, 
or  deer  stalking  on  the  highlands,  does  with 
shooting  under  the  escort  of  a  game-keeper  in  the 
English  preserves. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  53 

The  remark  is  equally  true  of  the  three  ex- 
citing diversions,  that  when  one  has  enjoyed  them 
to  perfection,  they  are  apt  to  give  him  a  distaste 
for  his  other  previously  most  cherished  pursuits. 
In  fact,  we  have  found  the  prediction  strongly 
manifested  even  by  uneducated  men  of  ordinary 
capacities,  who  have  been  reared  in  the  vicinity 
of  snipe  grounds. 

"  Hunting  quail,"  said  an  old  resident  of  the 
Neck,  who  had  killed  great  numbers  of  snipe, 
partridges  and  woodcock  in  his  day,  "is  like 
killing  the  stock  on  a  man's  farm ;  but  a  snipe 
was  made  to  be  sprung  and  shot  as  certainly  as 
a  trigger  was  forged  to  be  pulled."* 

*  This  old  man.  has  assured  us,  that  he  had  often  seen  snipe  rise 
from  his  meadows  in  dense  flocks,  like  reed  birds,  in  September, 
and  that  previous  to  the  invention  of  percussion  locks,  he  and  his 
brother  had  killed  a  market  basket  full  in  a -few  hours. 

He  had  shot  snipe  and  woodcock  in  parts  of  the  lower  districts, 
now  thickly  populated,  and  lived  to  see  the  day  when  ho  was 
forced  to  complain,  that  he  could  hardly  find  a  dozen  reed  birds  in 
his  own  fields.  Even  in  his  latter  days  he  was  a  remarkable  shot, 
discharging  his  piece  almost  at  the  instant  on  which  the  butt 
touched  his  shoulder,  and  most  generally  with  decided  effect. 

Though  not  much  given  to  jocular  remarks,  he  was  wont  to  say, 
that  his  dog  had  such  an  opinion  of  his  master's  shooting,  that  he 
barely  waited  for  the  report  before  he  sprang  forward  to  retrieve 
the  bird.  Old  Brazier  was  perfectly  familiar  with  every  rood  of 
meadow  or  "  mash"  for  miles  and  miles  around,  and  will  long  be 
remembered  in  the  Neck,  for  his  skill  as  a  shot  and  the  energetic 
peculiarities  of  his  disposition. 

4 


54  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Of  all  descriptions  of  dogs  used  in  field  shoot- 
ing, we  unreservedly  advance  the  opinion,  that  a 
swift  thorough-going  pointer  or  setter  is,  beyond 
dispute,  the  best  for  snipe. 

They  know  practically  little  of  what  they  are 
writing  about,  who  assert,  in  these  latter  days, 
that  a  slow  dog  is  to  be  preferred  in  this  species 
of  sport.  We  grant  that  the  assertion  may  hold 
good  if  intended  to  be  applied  to  an  old  man,  or 
a  fair-weather  sportsman ;  and  in  that  case  we 
are  not  surprised,  when  carrying  out  the  remark, 
some  writers  tell  you,  sotto  voce,  that  perhaps 
you  had  better  leave  the  dogs  at  home.  We  re- 
gard their  advice,  in  this  particular,  pretty  much 
as  Dash  or  Czar  would  do,  themselves,  provided 
that  they  could  comprehend  the  author  were  the 
last,  with  equal  point  and  propriety,  to  advise 
them  to  beware  of  hunting  too  fast,  lest  they 
should  over-heat  their  systems  or  founder  their 
feet — that  is  to  say,  with  a  stare  and  a  sniff.  So 
far  from  admitting  them  to  be  sportsmen,  we 
doubt  if  ever  in  their  lives  they  "felt  so  much 
cold  as  over  shoes  in  snow,"  and  are  inclined  to 
conjecture  that  they  must  have  been  the  veritable 
Cockneys,  whose  dogs,  after  witnessing  a  few  of 
their  exploits,  left  them,  in  unmitigated  disgust, 
and  went  quietly  home  to  resume  their  slumbers. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  55 

Apropos,  we  remember  to  have  not  long  since 
seen,  in  our  walk,  an  odd  looking  disciple  of 
Nimrod,  in  a  velvet  cap,  shooting-jacket,  and 
horseman's  boots,  solemnly  beating  out  a  build- 
ing lot  on  Broad  street,  where  a  little  water  had 
accumulated  after  a  rain — his  face  set  and  his 
piece  at  full  cock — tramping  backwards  and 
forwards,  now  with  the  wind  at  his  back,  and 
now  quartering — and  evincing  in  these  ma- 
noeuvres a  precision  and  tenacity  of  purpose, 
which  at  first  induced  us  to  suspect  that  the 
man  was  mad ;  until  opportunely  remembering 
the  advice  of  these  same  closet  shooters,  and 
having  a  sincere  respect  for  genius  in  the  germ, 
we  instantly  withdrew  our  too  curious  gaze,  and 
whistling  to  Dash,  who  was  also  regarding  the 
embryo  Nimrod  with  unaffected  astonishment, 
walked  hastily  on. 

We  will  hazard  the  opinion  that  this  disciple, 
like  his  master,  seldom  found  dogs  of  much  ac- 
count in  snipe  shooting. 

But  to  resume — for  the  cars  have  passed  the 
Lazaretto.  It  is  not  our  wish  to  sit  in  judgment 
between  the  pointer  and  the  setter,  respecting  the 
supposed  superiority  of  either  as  snipe  dogs.  We 
have  shot  over  so  many  excellent  animals  of  both 
species,  that,  falling  back  on  our  sporting  expe- 


56  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

rience,  it  really  seems  invidious  to  institute  a 
comparison.  If  required,  however,  to  pronounce 
an  opinion,  we  confess  a  slight  preference  for  the 
pointer. 

Our  partiality  is  grounded  solely  on  his  supe- 
rior steadiness  and  sagacity  in  the  field,  and  the 
faculty  which  he  sometimes  displays  of  winding 
and  leading  directly  on  to  snipe,  from  an  asto- 
nishing distance. 

He  is  more  staunch,  and  can  be  more  fully  de- 
pended upon  at  a  much  earlier  age  than  the  set- 
ter. When,  however,  a  dog  of  the  latter  stock 
has  arrived  at  the  age  of  five  or  six  years,  and 
been  regularly  hunted  every  season,  especially 
by  one  man,  and  that  man  a  sportsman,  he  some- 
times becomes,  so  to  speak,  a  very  Napoleon 
among  snipe  dogs. 

All  the  fine  qualities  of  the  two  stocks  are  con- 
centrated and  perfected  in  him ;  but  such  dogs 
are  extremely  rare.  They  are  to  be  considered 
as  the  product  of  a  combination  of  unusually  fine 
instincts  in  the  brute,  brought  out,  tempered  and 
perfected  by  the  higher  intelligence  of  the  man. 

If  your  dog  is  experienced  and  staunch  to  his 
point,  as,  of  course,  he  ought  to  be,  the  faster  he 
hunts  the  better  your  prospect  of  finding  birds. 
When  he  gets  in  among  them,  he  will  then  be- 
come sufficiently  steady. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  57 

As  to  his  over-running  birds,  that  is  mere  ba- 
gatelle. Snipe  have  not  as  yet  been  arraigned 
at  the  "  Cedars"  for  wilfully  withholding  their 
scent. 

A  good  dog  is  still  permitted  to  wind  them  at 
a  safe  distance.  Their  effluvia  is  still  allowed  to 
be  strong,  even  by  those  wonder-hunting  gentle- 
men, who,  absorbed  by  one  startling  idea,  like 
the  traveller  who  saw  the  calf's  tail  protruding 
through  a  knot-hole  in  the  tan-yard  fence,  invoke 
the  aid  of  clap-trap  at  once,  disdaining  to  pay  the 
least  regard  to  any  ordinary  solution  of  the  mys- 
tery. 

If,  in  the  course  of  a  day's  sport,  a  few  birds 
are  prematurely  and  unavoidably  flushed,  the 
snipe  shooter  thinks  no  more  of  the  matter,  than 
a  general,  after  a  successful  engagement,  does  of 
the  casualties  of  the  field. 

A  disposition  to  range  is  characteristic  of  a 
high-bred  animal ;  and  it  is  this  quality,  which, 
when  united  to  staunchness  and  a  knowledge  of 
ground  imbibed  from  successive  seasons  of  field 
practice,  mainly  constitutes  a  snipe  dog. 

The  antiquated  foolery  about  slow  dogs,  is 
only  kept  up  by  a  set  of  scribblers,  who,  while 
cudgelling  their  brains  to  glorify  American  field 
sports,  ever  seem  pathetically  to  lament  their  ex- 


53  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

elusion  from  the  English  preserves.  These  gen- 
tlemen, having  been  brought  up  to  a  tether,  never 
forget  their  veneration  for  game  laws  and  the 
majesty  of  a  ring  fence.  Whether  they  are  paid 
by  London  gun  makers  to  puff  their  work  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  we  know  not;  but  one  thing 
is  certain,  that  if  you  read  what  they  write,  and 
believe,  you  will  soon  profess  little  faith  in  aught 
connected  with  sporting  on  this  side  of  the  water. 

As  to  their  prosy  and  oft-repeated  directions 
how  to  hunt  snipe,  in  our  humble  opinion  they 
are  not  worth  a  pinch  of  powder,  except  to  fill  a 
page  or  two  of  twaddle.  It  would  really  be  some- 
thing new  if  any  well-tutored  dog  could  be  pro- 
duced, who  did  not  know  more  about  the  matter 
than  gentlemen  who  affect  to  laud  Ponto  to  the 
skies  in  one  breath,  and  tell  you  that  he  is  not 
worth  the  trouble  of  taking  out  to  the  field  in  the 
next. 

But,  aliens !  The  cars  have  stopped,  and  as 
soon  as  possible  we  must  be  afloat.  After  some 
delay,  a  boat  and  two  stout  oarsmen  were  pro- 
cured ;  the  dogs,  inured  to  all  sorts  of  locomotion, 
tumbled  in  and  stowed  themselves  away  in  the 
stern-sheets,  as  peacefully  as  lambs;  and  with 
the  tide  swelling  fast  to  flood,  we  pushed  off  for 
the  opposite  shore. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  59 

Considerable  time  was  consumed  in  making  a 
passage,  as  the  river  was  filled  with  floating  ice, 
and  is  here,  at  least,  twice  its  width  at  Philadel- 
phia ;  but  thanks  to  the  skill  and  sinewy  arms 
of  the  boatmen  this  was  at  last  effected,  without 
shipping  more  water  than  was  agreeable,  except 
to  the  dogs,  who,  however,  bore  the  infliction  with 
exemplary  patience. 

Old  Pierson,  who  had  been  watching  the  boat 
with  a  glass  from  the  balcony,  met  us  on  the  pier, 
in  spite  of  his  rheumatic  limp,  and  in  a  few  mo- 
ments we  were  busily  engaged  in  shifting  in  our 
old  comfortable  room,  facing  the  river. 

A  lunch  was  ready  for  us  when  we  descended 
in  sporting  trim ;  but,  although  an  hour  and  a 
half  amongst  the  ice  had  sharpened  our  appe- 
tites, we  paid  but  brief  attention  to  the  repast, 
and  under  the  auspices  of  our  good-natured  host 
speedily  set  off,  directing  our  course  down  to  a 
well-known  meadow  back  of  the  first  cove  below 
the  pier. 

The  day  was  all  we  could  ask ;  the  sun  about 
midway  in  his  course ;  the  sky  blue  and  clear, 
with  streaks  of  haze — which  foretold  a  change — 
slowly  spreading  in  the  north-east ;  but  feeling 
tolerably  sure  of  a  half  day's  sport  on  the  twenty- 
first  day  of  February,  we  blessed  our  auspicious 
stars  and  strode  rapidly  on. 


60  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

The  place  for  which  we  were  pushing  was  a 
low,  marshy  meadow,  partly  covered  with  rushes, 
and  lying  in  a  sort  of  winding  nook  between  the 
Salem  road  and  the  river  bank,  outside  of  which 
was  a  tide-water  flat,  where  birds  are  often  found 
feeding  in  April  on  a  calm  day.  The  meadow 
was  traversed  by  a  run  of  some  size,  and  some 
apprehensions  had  been  expressed  by  T.  of  its 
proving  too  wet,  although  Pierson  had  assured 
us  that  the  snow  had  been  off  the  ground  so  long 
that  it  was  now  in  excellent  order  for  snipe.  It 
was  easy  to  see  by  the  state  of  the  ground  over 
which  we  passed,  in  making  a  short  cut  to  avoid 
a  turn  in  the  bank,  that  the  wind  and  the  sun 
had  been  unusually  active  in  the  process  of  eva- 
poration, for  the  season  of  the  year,  though  we 
looked  in  vain  for  the  fishermen  from  whom  our 
host  had  derived  his  information ;  the  sheds  be- 
hind the  bank,  where  they  are  almost  always  to 
be  found  mending  their  gill-nets  in  the  first  of 
the  season,  being  now  apparently  deserted. 

The  tide  was  up  over  the  flat,  and  as  we  halted 
a  moment  on  the  bank  and  looked  inland,  it  was 
plain  that  if  birds  were  to  be  found  at  all,  it  was 
on  the  meadow  before  us.  After  reconnoitering 
an  instant,  we  crossed  the  ditch  and  separated. 

A  gentle  breeze  was  blowing  from  the  south- 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  61 

west  directly  athwart  our  course,  and  Dash,  our 
friend's  setter,  taking-  it  in  his  nostrils,  com- 
menced to  quarter  his  ground  at  a  fast  gallop, 
edging  more  and  more  in  the  wind,  while  Czar, 
after  casting  a  jealous  glance  at  the  other's  mo- 
tions, drew  up  in  his  track  and  threw  his  nose 
high,  snuffing  the  air;  then  advancing  a  few 
yards,  he  looked  around  to  catch  our  eye,  and  led 
straight  at  a  half  crouch,  as  was  his  habit  when 
winding  on  a  strong  scent. 

We  had  watched  his  motions  from  the  moment 
we  rose  to  the  bank,  and  working  leisurely  up, 
now  felt  sure  that  birds  were  within  a  few  hun- 
dred feet  of  us,  as  we  could  actually  see  them 
feeding  and  flitting  up  on  the  meadow. 

In  this  way,  taking  no  notice  whatever  of  a 
shot  from  T.  at  an  outlying  bird,  he  continued  on 
towards  the  bend  of  the  meadow,  and  crossing 
the  run  at  the  old  spot,  halted  and  stood  firm  to 
his  point  on  the  very  edge  of  the  rushes,  which 
covered  about  two  acres  of  ground. 

We  waved  our  hand  to  T.,  who  was  up  in  a 
moment,  and  for  a  single  portentous  instant,  we 
both  paused,  gazing  with  admiring  eyes  at  the 
striking  picture  before  us. 

The  attitude  of  the  dogs,  each  as  he  stood  like 

O     ' 

stone,  was  intensely  apprehensive  and  life-like. 


G2  KRIDER'S  SrORTING  ANECDOTES. 

The  pointer — as  was  his  wont  when  close  on 
his  game — stood  with  one  foot  raised  and  his 
body  half  bent,  the  loose  skin  on  his  forehead 
corrugated  into  what  we  are  wont  to  call  an  in- 
fallible wrinkle,  beneath  which  his  large,  full 
eyes  were  immovably  fixed  on  the  rushes  before 
him,  with  a  stare  half  knostic,  half  grim,  like  that 
of  a  priest  on  his  tripod  about  to  announce  to 
some  trembling  expectant  the  shadows  of  a  pre- 
destined doom. 

The  setter  was  a  few  paces  behind,  equally 
firm  in  his  posture,  though  his  gaze  was  more 
inquisitive  and  less  concentrated,  and  he  held  his 
head  higher,  as  if  looking  over  the  pointer's  stern. 
They  did  not  appear  to  breathe ;  not  a  muscle  of 
their  bodies  moved ;  the  withered  herbage  rustled 
softly  in  the  wind,  which  played  with  the  long 
winter  feathers  of  the  rough  dog's  coat,  but  no 
stone  bastion  could  have  been  steadier,  and  the 
very  lines  of  his  jowls  were  as  fixed  and  deter- 
minate, as  the  circumvallations  round  the  ram- 
part of  some  bristling  fortress. 

Simultaneously  we  made  two  strides  into  the 
low  cover;  not  a  feather  showed  itself;  a  step 
farther,  and,  uttering  their  peculiar  alarm  notes, 
six  or  seven  snipe  sprung  within  as  many  feet  of 
us,  and  darted  in  crooked  lines  up  the  meadow; 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  63 

the  reports  instantly  followed ;  the  dogs  dropped, 
and  in  this  way,  alternately  flushing  and  firing, 
we  beat  out  the  rushes,  and  drove  the  remaining 
birds  into  the  range  of  meadow  below. 

o 

Language  could  scarcely  describe  the  admira- 
ble steadiness  with  which  the  dogs  moved  over 
this  first  portion  of  the  ground.  No  two  veteran 
scouts,  suspicious  of  an  ambuscade,  could  have 
shown  greater  wariness  in  the  heart  of  an  ene- 
my's country. 

They  trailed  through  the  rustling  rushes  as 
gingerly  as  if  they  were  treading  among  circum- 
ambient steel-traps. 

No  new  casualty  in  flushing  or  falling,  no 
proximity  to  living  or  dead  birds,  could  draw 
them  an  inch  farther  than  prudence  warranted.  In 
one  instance,  while  Czar  was  on  a  point,  a  bird  was 
killed  which  fell  plump  on  the  old  fellow's  head, 
without  discomposing  his  equanimity  in  the  least. 
T.  declared  that  he  never  winked.  A  few  minutes 
afterwards,  from  some  peculiar  movement  of  the 
game,  he  became  wedged,  as  it  were,  between 
two  snipe,  and  we  never  shall  forget  the  sudden- 
ness with  which  he  dropped,  the  wary,  wide- 
awake look  of  his  red  muzzle,  as  he  flattened  his 
jowls  down  on  the  moist  earth,  nor  the  cool,  saga- 
cious air  with  which  he  rose  on  his  legs,  when 


64  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

he  heard  the  click  of  the  capped  gun-locks,  after 
the  birds  had  been  flushed  and  killed. 

We  now  proceeded  to  the  lower  meadows,  over 
which  the  birds  had  scattered,  and  the  excellence 
of  the  dogs  in  finding  the  game,  now  spread  over 
a  wide  extent  of  country,  was  very  apparent. 

The  superior  swiftness  of  the  setter  gave  him 
at  first  some  advantage ;  but  after  reaching  the 
improved  pasture  grounds  still  further  down, 
where  the  earth  was  drier,  the  sagacity  which 
Czar  showed  in  avoiding  wide,  circling  and  ex- 
cursive ranges,  and  the  faculty  which  he  seemed 
to  possess  of  piloting  the  shooter  directly  to  the 
moist  spots  where  the  birds  lay,  gave  him  in  the 
end  full  as  many  points. 

Upon  comparing  notes  at  sundown  we  found 
that,  as  usual,  neither  of  us  could  boast  of  having 
greatly  exceeded  the  other  in  the  number  of  shots 
bagged,  which  amounted  in  all  to  thirty-six 
brace.* 

The  birds  were  small  and  thin,  but  they  laid 


*  Early  in  the  spring  the  birds  frequent  wet  stubble-fields  in 
sheltered  situations,  a  few  miles  inland  from  the  great  water 
courses,  and  we  have  often  killed  numbers  of  them  in  such  locali- 
ties, when  very  few  were  to  be  found  upon  the  meadows.  No 
doubt  the  worms  work  nearer  to  the  surface  in  low,  cultivated 
grounds,  than  upon  the  broad,  exposed  surface  of  meadow  land. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  65 

close  to  the  dogs,  and  flew  well,  and,  every  thing 
considered,  we  seldom  enjoyed  greater  diversion 
on  many  subsequent  visits  to  these  and  other 
localities.  That  night  the  wind  shifted  to  the 
eastward,  and  we  reached  Philadelphia  at  one 
o'clock  the  next  day,  in  the  midst  of  a  furious 
snow  storm.  This  was  the  first  and  last  snipe 
shooting  we  had  in  the  month  of  February.* 

Within  the  last  few  years  these  grounds,  as 
well  as  others  above  and  below,  on  either  side  of 
the  Delaware,  have  been  greatly  improved.  Ex- 
tensive marshes  have  been  drained ;  sterile  mea- 
dows thrown  open  to  the  tides  and  afterwards 
banked  in,  so  that  year  after  year  there  is  even 
less  certainty  than  before  of  finding  snipe.  Still, 
diversion  is  to  be  had  by  those  who  know  the 
grounds  and  study  the  weather,  along  Oldman's, 
Salem  and  Allovvay's  creeks,  on  the  New  Jersey 
side,  the  marshes  of  Newport,  Staunton,  New 


*  We  have  long  noticed  that  when  the  nights  are  cool,  with  high 
•winds  from  the  north-west,  towards  the  latter  end  of  March,  very 
few  birds  are  to  be  found  on  the  marshes.  The  prevalence  of 
southerly  winds  and  a  hazy  sky,  with  drizzling  rain,  is  much  more 
favorable  to  their  migration  northward.  The  same  remark  holds 
good  in  reference  to  the  appearance  of  shad  in  the  Delaware.  In- 
deed, snipe  are  called  shad-birds  by  many  of  the  fishermen,  and  the 
abundance  or  scarcity  of  the  one  is  considered  highly  indicative  of 
that  of  the  other. 


66  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Castle,  Delaware  City,  Port  Penn,  and  upon  the 
grounds  on  Appoquinaminky  and  Blackbird 
creeks,  on  the  Delaware  side. 

It  is,  however,  now  more  necessary,  if  possible, 
than  before,  that  a  snipe  dog,  to  be  up  to  his 
work,  should  be  perfectly  steady,  and  possess  at 
the  same  time  considerable  power  of  range. 

While  the  passion  for  field  sports  is  largely  on 
the  increase  with  us,  agriculturists  are  improving 
their  lands  on  the  great  water  courses,  and  mar- 
ket shooters  striving  to  be  in  advance  of  the 
sportsman  on  all  the  choice  grounds ;  so  that  the 
chances  are,  that,  unless  you  go  farther  and  spend 
more  time  on  your  excursions,  you  will  hardly 
get  your  share  of  snipe  shooting. 

How  different  was  the  case  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers,  and  even  within  the  memory  of  our  own ! 
Who  then  would  have  thought  of  going  thirty  or 
forty  miles  from  home  to  kill  snipe  ? 

They  were  then  particularly  abundant  in  "the 
Neck,"  on  the  marshes  of  the  Schuylkill,  and 
along  all  the  lesser  tributaries  of  the  Delaware. 

The  shooter  was  then  sure  of  finding  sport  on 
Sheer's  or  Girard's  meadows,  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  "  Broad  Marsh,"  and  almost  at  any  point  be- 
tween the  Navy  Yard  and  the  Lazaretto,  includ- 
ing the  drifts  and  low  islands  along  the  Pennsyl- 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  67 

vania  shore.  On  the  New  Jersey  side,  Kaighn's 
Point  meadows,  and  those  upon  the  Newt-own 
Creek,  were  accounted  good  snipe  grounds.  Red- 
field's  flat,  at  the  mouth  of  Timber  Creek,  and 
low  lands  of  Josiah  Ward,  lying  several  miles 
higher  up  the  stream,  were  specially  famous. 

On  Eagle  Point  meadows  snipe  have  been  seen 
in  immense  flights,  and  the  marshes  of  Wood- 
bury  and  Mantua  creeks  were  also  celebrated. 
Wilson's  grounds,  situated  on  the  latter  stream, 
and  consisting  of  low  tussocky  pasturage,  trod- 
den up  by  cattle  and  kept  sufficiently  moist  by 
the  spring  rains,  were  much  visited  by  sports- 
men. 

Clemmell  and  Raccoon  creeks,  and  Raccoon 
island,  have  also  been  in  great  esteem  in  their 
day.  On  the  range  of  meadows  from  Bridge- 
port, New  Jersey,  down  to  Oldman's  Creek,  and 
on  all  the  grounds  between  Pennsgrove  and  Sa- 
lem Creek,  birds  are  still  to  be  found  from  the 
twentieth  of  March  until  the  last  of  April.  We 
once  killed  twenty  brace  of  very  fine  snipe  at 
Pennsgrove  as  late  as  the  fourth  of  May,  and  in 
March  last  bagged  eighty-eight  birds  in  two 
days'  shooting  in  the  same  vicinity.  We  repeat, 
however,  that  these,  as  well  as  the  most  noted 
grounds  on  the  opposite  shore,  have  been  so 


63  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

drained  of  late  years,  that  unless  you  have  some 
acquaintance  with  the  best  localities,  and  are 
able  to  stand  rough  weather,*  hard  work,  and 
often  chagrin,  to  boot,  you  had  better  extend 
your  excursions. 

At  Bridgeton,  New  Jersey,  there  are  an 
abundance  of  snipe,  both  in  the  spring  and  fall; 
you  will  also  have  sport  at  Bombay  Hook  ;  but 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Dennisville,  New  Jer- 
sey, are  the  best  and  most  extensive  snipe 
grounds  that  we  have  any  knowledge  of. 

We  would  advise  the  young  shooter,  if  he  has 
a  week  to  spare,  to  go  there  by  all  means.  If 


*  We  were  shooting,  in  March,  on  the  river  meadows  between 
Pennsgrove  and  Craven's  Ferry,  during  a  gale  from  the  south-east, 
when  an  extraordinary  high  tide  suddenly  swept  away  about  fifty 
feet  of  the  bank,  through  which  the  water  came  roaring  in  so  fast 
that  the  dogs  were  swimming  round  us,  and  we  were  actually  up  to 
our  waists  before  we  could  reach  the  fast  land.  The  meadows  were 
submerged  for  miles,  and  numbers  of  sheep  and  hogs  drowned,  the 
carcasses  of  which  lay  scattered  about,  while  we  were  killing  snipe 
at  low  water  over  portions  of  the  same  ground  on  the  next  day. 

On  another  occasion,  in  Robinson's  meadows,  on  Salem  Creek, 
having  found  birds  plentiful  but  very  wild,  we  at  last  succeeded  in 
driving  them  across  a  ditch  into  a  cat-tail  swamp,  where  we  had 
them  at  advantage,  inasmuch  as  the  cover  being  high,  they  were 
inclined  to  lie  close.  In  the  midst  of  our  sport  the  tide  stole  a 
march  upon  us,  and  we  were  forced  to  give  over  shooting  and  wade 
the  ditch,  which  we  had  previously  crossed  without  much  dif- 
ficulty. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  69 

the  journey  is  somewhat  long  and  tiresome,  he 
is  at  least  certain,  at  its  end,  to  find  the  grounds 
free  from  market  shooters,  who,  wherever  they 
go,  tend  to  prejudice  the  country  people  against 
all  strangers  from  the  city.  These  fellows,  in 
general,  regard  the  sportsman  with  an  evil  eye, 
and  unless  closely  watched  are  apt  to  play  him 
some  trick. 

There  is  a  tolerable  good  house  kept  by 

Wills,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  village,  and  the 
host  is  fond  of  going  out  with  his  guests. 

The  proper  times  to  start  are  about  the  mid- 
dle of  March,  or  the  last  of  October  in  the 
fall. 

At  Frenchtown,  Maryland,  there  are  good 
snipe  grounds,  but  their  extent  is  comparatively 
small,  and  the  sport  is  over  in  a  few  hours.  Still, 
if  you  have  the  advantage  of  pilotage,  and  are 
on  the  spot  early  enough  in  the  season — as  snipe 
seldom  remain  here  long  in  spring,  preferring 
to  follow  the  course  of  rivers  where  the  tides 
ebb  and  flow — you  may  sometimes  have  a  suffi- 
ciency of  sport.* 

*  At  this  place  Mr.  Krider  has  seen  five  snipe  feeding  on  one 
spot,  within  ten  feet  of  the  road-side.  Had  ho  been  disposed,  and 
not  too  agreeably  occupied  with  watching  the  ease  and  dispatch 
with  which  they  bored  the  ground  with  their  long  bills,  the  dex- 


70  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

We  have  nothing  to  say  here  in  reference  to 
the  kind  of  gun  to  be  used  in  snipe  shooting  ; 
this  is  left  to  the  choice  of  the  shooter. 

As  to  the  apparel  most  suitable  for  traversing 
the  drifts  and  marshes,  it  would  be  well  to  re- 
member that  there  is  a  water-proof  boot  made 
by  a  few  Philadelphia  artizans,  which  for  light- 
ness and  durability  exceeds  any  work  of  the 
kind  which  we  have  ever  used.  They  should 
be  made  Jarge  enough  to  admit  two  pairs  of 
stockings — one  pair  made  of  lamb's  wool  to  be 
worn  next  to  the  skin.  You  will  find  the  ad- 
vantage of  this,  when  riding  home  nine  or  ten 
miles,  after  your  day's  hunt. 

Snipe  are  found  in  almost  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.  The  editor  has  seen  them  exposed  for 
sale  alive  in  the  market  at  Canton,  China,  and 
killed  them  in  the  marshes  of  the  bay  of  Santa 
Catherina,  on  the  southern  coast  of  Brazil. 


terity  with  which  they  drew  out  and  swallowed  the  worms,  and  the 
quantity  which  they  caught  and  devoured  in  the  space  of  a  few 
minutes,  he  might  readily  have  killed  them  all  at  one  discharge. 
They  kept  so  close  together,  were  so  busily  intent  on  their  opera- 
tions, that,  to  an  imaginative  mind,  they  might  have  recalled  the 
fictitious  image  of  so  many  gnomes  in  a  mine. 

After  he  had  observed  them  for  some  minutes,  they  silently  flew 
and  alit  a  few  yards  farther  off,  where  the  inequalities  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground  effectually  hid  them  from  view. 


SNIPE  SHOOTING.  71 

The  rice  fields  of  Egypt  swarm  with  them  in 
winter ;  they  are  found  in  Java  and  Sumatra, 
and  almost  all  the  islands  of  the  Indian  sea. 

In  Madagascar  they  are  abundant;  also  in 
Ceylon  and  Japan ;  they  have  been  killed  in 
great  numbers  at  the  Falkland  Islands,  and 
other  stormy  and  desolate  solitudes  of  the  south- 
ern Atlantic. 

They  are  common  in  the  Arctic  regions  of 
Siberia,  and  in  every  part  of  the  old  continent. 

In  North  America,  they  are  said  to  be  abund- 
ant in  the  golden  regions  of  the  Pacific,  and  are 
found  every  where  in  the  United  States. 

They  afford  sport  to  the  citizens  of  New  Or- 
leans and  Mobile,  and  are  known  all  along  the 
course  of  "  the  great  father  of  waters." 

With  few  exceptions,  they  breed  far  to  the 
north,  and  in  Canada,  we  believe,  are  only  shot 
in  the  fall,  before  they  begin  to  move  off  to  their 
winter  home  in  the  south. 

Snipe  are  often  found  in  very  wet  situations. 
We  have  sometimes  flushed  them  late  in  the 
spring  from  low  meadows  in  the  interior  of  the 
state,  which  were  so  covered  with  water  that  the 
ends  of  the  blades  of  grass  just  appeared  on  the 
surface. 

Notwithstanding  their  wandering  and  way- 


72  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

ward  nature,  they  soon  become  accustomed  to 
captivity.  We  once  kept  one  of  these  birds 
several  weeks  in  company  with  a  yellow  shanked 
snipe.  (Scolopax  Flavipedes.) 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING. 

THE  WOODCOCK— SCOLOPAX  MDTOK. 

Description. — "The  male  woodcock  is  ten 
inches  and  a  half  long,  and  sixteen  inches  in  ex- 
tent ;  bill  a  brownish  flesh  color,  black  towards 
the  tip,  the  upper  mandible  ending  in  a  slight 
knob,  that  projects  about  one-tenth  of  an  inch 
beyond  the  lower,  each  grooved,  and,  in  length, 
somewhat  more  than  two  inches  and  a  half; 
forehead,  line  over  the  eyes,  and  whole  lower 
parts  reddish  tawny ;  sides  of  the  neck,  inclining- 
to  ash ;  between  the  eye  and  bill,  a  slight  streak 
of  dark  brown ;  crown,  from  the  fore  part  of  the 
eye  backwards,  black,  crossed  by  three  narrow 
bands  of  brownish  white ;  cheeks,  marked  with 
a  bar  of  black,  variegated  with  light  brown ; 
edges  of  the  back,  and  of  the  scapulars,  pale 
bluish  white ;  back  and  scapulars,  deep  black, 
each  feather  tipped  or  marbled  with  light  brown 
and  bright  ferruginous,  with  numerous  fine  zig- 
zag lines  of  black  crossing  the  lighter  part ; 
quills,  plain  dusky  brown ;  tail,  black,  each 


74  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

feather  marked  along  the  outer  edge  with  small 
spots  of  pale  brown,  and  ending  in  narrow  tips, 
of  a  pale  drab  color  above,  and  silvery  white  be- 
low ;  lining  of  the  wing,  bright  rust ;  legs  and 
feet,  a  pale  reddish  flesh  color;  eye,  very  full 
and  black,  seated  high  and  very  far  back  in  the 
head  ;  weight,  five  ounces  and  a  half,  sometimes 
six. 

"The  female  is  twelve  inches  long,  and  eigh- 
teen in  extent ;  weighs  eight  ounces ;  and  differs 
also  in  having  the  bill  very  near  three  inches  in 
length ;  the  black  on  the  head  is  not  quite  so 
intense;  and  the  sides  under  the  wings  are 
slightly  barred  with  dusky." 

The  Breeding  Grounds. — You  are  in  the 
country  in  the  month  of  March,  and  chance  to 
be  standing  on  an  eminence  in  front  of  a  low 
meadow,  flanked  by  a  wood. 

Although  the  weather  has  been  mild  for  the 
season,  yet  something  in  the  prospect  before 
you,  grounded  upon  the  experience  of  the  past, 
inclines  you  to  think  the  winter  is  not  yet  over. 

The  snows  no  longer  whiten  the  valley ;  the 
stream  has  burst  from  its  icy  bounds ;  but  the 
tyrant  king  of  the  north  is  not  yet  dethroned, 
and  the  face  of  nature  still  wears  an  aspect  of 
austere  and  desolate  gloom.  No  songster's  note 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  75 

is  heard,  save  the  single  melancholy  call  of  the 
blue-bird,*  borne  from  afar  on  the  rising  blast, 
which,  as  it  rattles  the  naked  boughs  overhead, 
or  whirls  the  dead  leaves  at  your  feet,  imparts 
even  a  touch  of  menace  to  the  sere  look  of  the 
scene. 

Perhaps  while  reflecting  on  the  changes  of 
season,  you  are  insensibly  led  to  dwell  on  a  ver- 
dure which  nought  can  restore ;  or  it  may  be 
you  are  in  that  dreamy,  short-lived  mood  which 
is  so  apt  to  enfold  a  man's  inmost  spirit  as  he 
watches  day -light  darken  in  the  sky ;  while  the 
old  farmer,  whose  progenitors,  for  four  genera- 
tions, have  lived  and  died  on  the  place,  halts  at 
your  side,  internally  wondering  what  it  is  that 
you  see  in  the  west,  where  the  sun  has  just  sunk 
in  your  sight,  behind  some  distant  hill. 

Suddenly  you  hear  a  discordant  cry,  and  ob- 
serve a  bird  which  has  just  risen  from  the  low 


*  This  call  or  plaint,  which  is  the  bird's  common  note  when 
migrating  in  autumn,  is  also  heard  early  in  the  spring,  when  a 
recurrence  of  wintry  weather  drives  it  back  to  the  south,  from 
whence  too  early  it  came. 

The  note  is  generally  uttered  high  in  the  air,  and  has  a  very  dif- 
ferent effect  upon  the  ear  from  the  soft  and  delicate  warble  with 
which  every  lover  of  spring  is  familiar,  and  which,  when  heard 
amid  the  fragrance  of  May,  would  seem  the  very  outpourings  of  a 
gratulatory  and  innocent  joy. 


76  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

grounds  before  you,  rapidly  scaling  the  air  by  a 
series  of  short,  spiral  evolutions,  until  it  has 
attained  a  height  equal,  perhaps,  to  that  of  a  tall 
poplar  in  the  vicinity ;  then  sailing  to  and  fro 
in  a  slow,  devious  circuit,  it  seems  to  survey  the 
meadow  beneath,  while  a  low,  murmuring  sound, 
which  has  something  questful  in  its  cadence, 
drops,  as  it  were,  on  your  ear  from  the  twilight 
sky ;  listening  to  this,  you  again  hear  a  sharp, 
impatient  "pa-a-ck"  and  see  the  bird  shoot  di- 
rectly down  close  to  the  spot  from  whence  it 
arose,  again  uttering  its  last,  harsh,  guttural  cry 
as  it  touches  the  ground. 

This  singular  flight  is  repeated  twice  or  thrice, 
at  short  intervals,  the  harsh  note  on  the  ground 
becoming  each  time  more  significant  and  dis- 
tinct. It  is  the  love-call  of  the  male ;  the  spiral 
ascent  and  subsequent  motions  in  the  air  are 
the  bird's  mode  of  wooing ;  and  you  may  be  sure 
that  the  female  is  coquettishly  lurking  in  the 
grass  close  by,  or,  perhaps,  running,  with  droop- 
ing wings,  to  meet  her  destined  mate  as  he  de- 
scends. 

"Do  you  know  what  bird  that  is?"  your 
attendant  asks,  pointing  toward  the  meadow  with 
his  unshorn  chin. 

"  Certainly,"  you  reply ;  "  it  is  a  woodcock." 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  77 

"  Nay,"  says  old  Barleycorn,  smiling  at  your 
fancied  ignorance,  "  it  is  a  bushschnip.  I  haven't 
sawn  a  woodcock  on  these  lands  since  I  were  a 
boy." 

You  are  only  at  odds  about  names,  however, 
the  farmer  fancying  that  you  spoke  of  the  great 
pileated  woodpecker,  once  common  in  the  forests 
of  Montgomery,  and,  with  its  kingly  congener, 
the  ivory-billed,  long  ago  so  admirably  described 
by  Wilson ;  while  you,  perhaps,  are  almost  as 
far  led  astray  by  the  quaint  but  appropriate 
title,  which  he  bestows  upon  the  bird  in  ques- 
tion, and  by  which  it  was  always  distinguished 
in  the  primitive  days  of  his  fathers. 

As  soon  as  you  are  set  right  again,  he  will 
tell  you  that  he  has  seen  as  many  as  five  or  six 
woodcocks  engaged  in  these  serial  courtships,  in 
the  morning  and  evening  twilight,  at  this  season 
of  the  year,  making  a  curious  medley  of  sounds 
which,  perhaps,  he  will  describe  as  a  mingled 
quacking  and  whooping,  loud  enough  to  be  dis- 
tinctly audible  on  his  porch,  at  least  a  hundred 
yards  distant  from  the  meadow.  On  one  occa- 
sion, while  he  was  standing  at  the  fence,  one 
bird  descended  so  close  to  another  already  on 
the  ground,  that  he  saw  them  engage  in  a  du- 
etto, which  lasted  for  several  moments.  They 


78  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

tilted  and  tugged  with  their  long  bills,  and  flap- 
ped each  other  with  their  wings,  their  tail- 
feathers  stiffly  erected  and  their  plumage  in- 
verted, until  the  spectator,  a  conscientious  mem- 
ber of  a  society  religiously  opposed  to  all 
species  of  combats,  save  those  of  flesh  and  spirit, 
stepped  from  his  place  of  concealment  and  put 
both  belligerents  to  flight. 

A  few  evenings  after  this  conversation,  wea- 
rying of  your  book  or  your  pen,  you  look  out  from 
your  window  upon  the  tranquil  face  of  night. 
It  is  a  calm,  clear  evening ;  you  can  just  hear 
the  roar  of  the  distant  dam,  and  looking  toward 
the  quiet  meadow,  see  the  run  gleaming  in  the 
moonlight,  with  the  poplar's  tall  top,  rising 
straight  and  still  as  a  steeple's  spire,  above  the 
the  dark  belt  of  woods  on  the  back  ground. 

Beyond  that  wood  is  the  old  Dunker  grave- 
yard, where  several  members  of  the  farmer's 
family  are  interred  ;  you  cannot  see  their  tomb- 
stones, but  you  know  they  are  there,  shining 
white  and  still  in  the  cold  moonbeam  :  you  look 
aloft,  where  the  stars  are  burning,  and,  perhaps, 
some  serious  misgivings  of  the  lonely  life  you 
are  leading — some  true  notion  of  the  vanity  of 
your  earthly  aims  comes  over  you,  as  you  think 
of  that  cluster  of  graves  before  those  steadfast, 
far  away  lights. 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  79 

At  that  inexplicable  instant,  even  while  your 
mind  is  oppressed  with  its  new  feeling,  the  voice 
of  old  Barleycorn  is  heard  loudly  calling  for 
you  to  come  down.  Accordingly,  down  you  go ; 
and  before  you  are  up  to  what  he  is  after,  he 
carries  you  out  on  the  porch  and  bids  you  listen. 
For  a  few  moments  you  distinguish  nothing  but 
the  hoarse  bay  of  some  neighbor's  farm  dog, 
echoed  back  by  your  pointer  in  the  stable,  and 
the  subdued,  familiar  roar  of  the  rushing  wa- 
ters ;  but  old  Truepenny,  who  knows  what  he 
is  about,  lays  his  hand  on  your  arm,  and  then, 
for  the  first  time  in  your  life,  you  hear  those 
mysterious  and  much-disputed  notes,  which 
Nuttall  and  one  or  two  others  have  described  so 
well. 

Your  hat  and  storm-jacket  are  on,  and  the  old 
man,  omnipresent,  leads  you  down  to  the  low 
grounds,  where,  careless  of  agues,  he  hides  you 
under  an  alder  bush,  and  both  remain  quiet  as 
death. 

Presently  the  woodcock's  loud  quack  strikes 
your  ear,  apparently  within  a  few  yards ;  the 
farmer  points  in  the  air ;  you  catch  a  fleeting 
glimpse  of  the  bird  as  he  mounts,  and  at  the 
same  moment  hear  a  low,  hurried,  quavering 
hum,  which  seems  like  an  imperfect  attempt  at 


80  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  preluding  of  a  song ;  this  dies  away  in  the 
air  over  head,  and  in  an  instant  after  is  suc- 
ceeded by  a  loud,  distinct  melody,  so  earnestly 
emitted,  and  of  such  rapid  continuance,  as  to 
resemble  the  musical  gushing  of  water,  or  the 
reedy  notes  of  a  sylvan  pipe,  in  which  some 
wayward  urchin  is  blowing.  It  is,  however,  the 
strains  from  a  feathered  songster's  throat,  and 
becomes  more  clear  and  sweet  the  lower  it 
hovers  in  the  air  around  ;  until  ceasing  abruptly 
it  is  followed  by  the  usual  "pa-a-ck"  uttered  in 
a  much  lower  key  than  before,  and  with  a  half 
choking  but  curious  emphasis,  as  if  addressed 
in  appeal  to  some  object  near. 

If  you  choose  to  remain  at  your  post  for  an 
hour  or  more,  you  may  hear  the  serenade  con- 
tinued in  this  way  with  but  little  remission,  and 
even  see  the  bird  on  the  ground  within  a  few 
feet  of  you,  its  tail-feathers  erected,  and  body 
stiffly  set  on  its  legs,  as  with  a  ludicrous  and 
inimitable  appearance  of  conceit  it  jerks  out  the 
strange  finale  to  its  song. 

The  old  man  assures  you,  on  returning  to  the 
house,  that  the  hen  is  close  by,  and  that  the  eve- 
ning performance,  which  appears  so  unique  and 
interesting  to  you,  is  literally  an  old  song  with 
him. 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  81 

A  week  or  two  later  in  the  season,  you  chance 
to  be  crossing  the  fields,  on  your  way  to  the 
village  post-office,  perhaps,  with  some  four- 
footed  companion  of  your  sports  composedly 
coursing  your  heels.  You  are  passing  along  the 
skirt  of  a  wood ;  it  is  a  balmy  April  day ;  the 
wind  is  fresh  from  the  south,  and  you  seem  to 
scent  the  odor  of  early  violets  afar  off,  as  cloud 
after  cloud  flits  through  the  blue  air :  you  hear 
the  short  familiar  notes  of  the  song-sparrow,  ear- 
liest and  sweetest  warbler  of  his  tribe,  and  in- 
stead of  feeling  poetically  inclined,  ten  chances 
to  one  that  you  are  thinking  on  another  visit  to 
the  snipe  grounds.  If  so,  mechanically  turning 
your  head,  you  glance  back  at  your  familiar, 
and  lo!  as  if  living  in  your  very  thoughts,  your 
familiar  is  "  at  a  stand." 

There  is  a  knostic  yet  half  quizzical  look  in- 
volved in  the  wrinkles  in  the  old  Trojan's  por- 
tentous face,  which  makes  you  think  that  he 
has  a  tom:cat  or  a  stray  fowl  skulking  in  the 
bush  ;  and  feeling  a  slight  flutter  of  expectancy 
yourself,  bending  low,  you  peer  curiously  about, 
until  suddenly,  as  by  a  flash,  your  gaze  is  ar- 
rested at  once,  and  little  fairy,  fairy  bubbles 
float  up,  as  it  were,  from  your  heart  to  your  eyes, 
as  amid  the  thin,  dry  herbage  at  the  roots  of  a 


82  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

» 

bush,  or  a  decayed  stump,  you  see,  within  reach 
of  your  hand,  the  woodcock  brooding  on  her 
nest. 

By  Jove !  here  is  a  discovery.  You  almost 
feel  as  if  you  had  stumbled  upon  one  of  nature's 
inscrutible  secrets. 

The  old  pointer  is  as  steady  as  a  statue ;  the 
wild  bird  seems  wonderfully  tame ;  there  is  no 
need  to  speak  or  to  stir ;  you  may  sit  and  gaze 
your  fill  on  that  solitary  spot. 

What  a  rare  and  exquisite  proof  of  the  triumph 
of  maternal  instinct  is  here  ! 

How  innocently  calm — how  replete  with  pa- 
tient tranquillity,  the  large  black  eyes  meet  your 
eager  gaze — how  quiet  the  wild  thing  sits,  every 
dusky  brown  quill  and  marbled  feather  in  its 
place,  and  the  long,  grooved  bill  resting  on  the 
breast ! 

So  full  of  abiding  trust  is  the  creature's  cra- 
dled look,  that,  lost  in  admiration  at  her  appa- 
parent  unconcern,  you  scarcely  think  of  the 
eggs  concealed  in  the  nest  beneath.  It  is  as  if 
she  had  assumed  that  artless,  unshrinking  air 
on  purpose  to  beguile  you  of  the  treasures, 
which,  day  and  night,  she  so  sedulously  guards. 
You  may  even  put  forth  your  hand  and  touch 
her  wing,  and  she  will  not  shrink ;  but  if  by  any 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  83 

species  of  subtlety  you  could  place  your  finger 
on  the  breast  where  the  plumage  is  worn  from 
the  skin,  you  might  then  feel  a  mother's  heart 
beating  hurriedly  within,  in  spite  of  the  seat 
maintained,  the  tranquil  eyes,  the  composed  and 
unruffled  plumes.* 

So  unstudied  is  the  nest,  composed  as  it  is  of 
a  dozen  stalks  of  grass  and  a  few  withered  leaves, 
so  fearless  and  full  of  faith  to  the  end  the  atti- 
tude of  the  bird,  that  it  is  long  before  you  can 
withdraw  your  eyes  from  the  sight. 

From  how  many  hundred  leagues  in  the  far 
south  has  the  woodcock  flown,  to  hatch  her 
brood  at  last  in  that  chosen  spot!  For  how 
many  days  and  nights  by  that  old  grey  stump — 
in  sun,  in  wind  and  in  rain — through  how  many 
dangers  past — has  she  kept  her  post !  How 
often  has  that  little  heart  throbbed  with  fear  as 
the  hawk  stole  by  on  her  hungry  flight,  or  the 
stealthy  fox  on  his  midnight  prowl !  How  often 
have  the  winds  beat  and  the  floods  came,  and 
the  house  built  by  the  stump  withstood  the 


*  We  attempted  to  remove  the  eggs  from  under  a  sitting  wood- 
cock, when,  uttering  a  sort  of  soft  murmur,  she  fluttered  off  to  a 
little  distance,  and  remained  watching  our  motions  with  evident 
anxiety.  We  replaced  them  and  turned  away  ;  she  then  returned 
to  the  nest,  and  soon  after  hatched  her  brood. 


84  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

shock!  And  who  so  sure  of  his  own  sympa- 
thies, as  to  make  mock  of  the  instinct,  which, 
until  the  end  is  wrought,  mysteriously  binds  the 
wing  that  has  flown  so  far,  to  this  charmed  atom 
of  ground. 

Now,  call  off  your  dog  and  go  your  way, 
humbled  like  a  child  before  the  smallest  mystery 
of  creation,  yet  devising,  as  you  distinctively 
glance  at  the  trees,  what  should  be  done  with 
the  market  shooter,  who,  for  the  sake  of  the  extra 
shilling  which  game  brings  out  of  season,  would 
kill  this  bird  on  her  nest. 

Whether  the  female  solely  performs  the  duties 
of  incubation,  or  is  assisted  by  the  male,  is  not 
for  you  to  determine.  Come  to  the  spot  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  which  you  please — sit  there 
from  sunrise  until  dark,  you  will  always  find 
the  same  bird  on  the  nest,  and  while  you  are  on 
the  watch  she  will  not  stir.  It  is  true  the  mark- 
ings of  both  sexes  are  the  same,  with  a  very  tri- 
fling difference,  and  both  birds  have  the  same 
peculiar  and  somewhat  bizarre  look,  imparted  by 
the  long  bill,  the  large  and  singularly  shaped 
skull,  and  the  brilliant  black  eyes  set  high  and 
far  back  in  the  head.  Nevertheless,  you  may 
readily  distinguish  the  sex  by  the  greater  size  of 
the  bird  before  you,  the  superior  length  of  the 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  85 

bill,  as  well  as  the  black  tint  on  the  back  being 
less  intense. 

But  although  you  have  not  been  able  to  de- 
tect this  fact,  and  cannot  give  a  decided  opinion, 
yet  reasoning  from  analogy,  and  from  the  circum- 
stance of  the  male  bird  having  been  seen  in 
close  proximity,  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  while  the 
hen  is  abroad  in  search  of  food,  more  especially 
at  night,  her  partner  takes  her  place. 

There  is  good  reason  to  suppose,  however, 
that  her  absence  is  but  short,  barely  long  enough 
to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  nature,  and  that  she  is 
by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  time  on  the 
nest. 

A  little  later  in  the  season  you  are  walking  in 
the  same  woods.  In  a  mossy  and  moist  spot, 
shaded  by  the  boughs  of  some  gigantic  tree,  a 
bird  suddenly  flutters  up  and  falls  within  a  few 
feet  to  the  right  or  left  of  your  path.  It  is  your 
woodcock;  but  never  heed  her  now;  be  not 
duped  by  her  innocent  stratagems ;  bid  Ponto 
come  to  a  "down  charge;"  step  carefully  over 
the  ground  in  every  direction  but  that  in  which 
the  pretended  cripple  would  lead  you  :  sharpen 
your  eyes  until  you  seem  to  see  like  a  fly :  aha! 
you  have  them  now ;  the  rogues  have  chipped 
the  shell;  one,  two,  three;  arid  see,  covered  like 
G 


86  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  rest,  with  a  brownish  white  down  of  the 
same  hue  as  the  withered  leaf  on  which  it  skulks, 
see  here  is  the  fourth.  If  you  lift  them  gently 
in  your  hand,  listen  to  their  feeble  "peep! 
peep!"  touch  their  tender  bills,  and  watch  how 
shrewdly  each  tiny  urchin  toddles  off  to  hide 
behind  the  tendrils  of  a  surface  root,  or  an  empty 
tortoise  shell,  you  might  almost  take  them  for 
the  children  of  the  fabled  Mossmen. 

And  yet  so  helpless  do  they  seem  in  that  soli- 
tary range  of  forest,  that  it  appears  almost  a  mi- 
racle they  do  not  fall  a  prey  to  the  snake,  the 
raccoon,  the  opossum,  and  other  voracious 
prowlers  of  the  night;  But  though  feeble,  they 
«TOW  fast,  and  the  same  maternal  care  which 

O  ' 

kept  its  vigil  so  long  on  the  nest,  is  now  equally 
provident  to  supply  and  preserve  the  callow 
brood. 

A  month  later  you  are  abroad  again ;  Ponto  is 
inclined  to  range  out,  and  you  to  permit  him ; 
at  length,  after  a  little  preliminary  scouting,  he 
either  draws  up  at  the  side  of  a  rivulet,  or,  per- 
haps, as  if  struck  by  a  sudden  reminiscence, 
goes  straight  up  to  the  foot  of  the  great  tree  on 
the  same  sombre  spot,  where  the  earth  beneath 
the  dead  leaves  is  still  wet,  although  the  ponds 
and  marshy  nooks  of  the  wood  are  beginning  to 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  87 

dry.  As  you  approach,  up  spring  the  same  brood, 
now  well  feathered  and  strong,  and  darting 
among  the  trees,  pitch  severally  behind  a  bush, 
run  a  few  yards  farther  and  skulk. 

The  two  old  birds  are  frequently  found  in 
company,  and  here  the  whole  family  remain  until 
the  increasing  drought  of  summer  drives  them 

O  O 

down  to  the  shores  of  our  large  rivers,  and  the 
"  cripple  shooting,"  as  it  is  not  inappropriately 
called,  begins. 

When  Frank  Forrester,  who  sometimes  belies 
his  nom  de  plume,  tells  you  that  the  woodcock 
regularly  rears  two  broods  in  a  season,  he  speaks 
knowingly  that  which  he  knows  not  of. 

We  have  lived  for  years  in  a  part  of  the  state 
of  Pennsylvania,  where  cocks  have  bred  within 
the  memory  of  man,  and  we  have  paid  great  at- 
tention to  their  habits,  which  are  sufficiently 
curious  and  interesting,  albeit  involved  in  such 
obscurity  that  it  behooves  him  who  speaks  of  them 
to  weigh  his  words.  In  common  with  others 
who  have  observed  them  as  closely  as  their  reti- 
ring nature  would  permit,  we  are  inclined  to  the 
opinion  that  their  nests  are  seldom  seen  in  Penn- 
sylvania before  the  fourth  of  April ;  the  period  of 
incubation  is  universally  admitted  to  be  twenty- 
one  days,  which,  allowing  a  month  for  the  growth 


88  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

of  the  young  birds,  will  bring  them  far  into  May 
before  they  are  fully  fledged. 

It  is  true  that  nests  have  been  found  in  March, 
and  it  is  said  even  in  February  ;  but  these  cases, 
like  the  late  broods  in  June,  are  merely  excep- 
tions to  the  general  law,  and  are  dependent  upon 
accidental  circumstances. 

The  idea  of  the  hen  turning  over  the  tender 
brood  to  the  care  of  the  male,  while  she  proceeds 
to  incubate  a  second  time,  is  not  susceptible  of 
proof,  is  opposed  to  the  belief  of  the  best  ornitho- 
logists of  the  country,  and  even  to  the  known  in- 
stinct of  the  bird.  In  our  opinion,  it  is  one  of 
those  strokes  of  the  pen  intended  to  startle  by  its 
boldness,  when  the  author  is  really  as  much  in 
the  dark  on  the  subject  as  his  readers. 

In  the  forests  of  Montgomery,  Berks  and 
Northampton  counties,  we  have  repeatedly  found 
them  feeding  in  detached  broods — two,  three  or 
four  young  birds,  fully  fledged,  in  company  with 
the  two  old  ones — near  the  last  of  May,  and  in 
the  months  of  June  and  July,  if  the  season  be  wet. 
When  you  first  approach  these  insulated,  marshy 
spots,  the  birds  lie  close,  and  if  you  are  so  disposed, 
as  the  woods  are  pretty  open  and  free  from  brush, 
you  may  easily  make  a  double  shot  when  they 
spring.  After  that  it  is  useless  to  mark  down 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  89 

the  remaining  birds,  as  they  seldom  admit  the  dog 
to  point  them  a  second  time  while  under  the  in- 
fluence of  their  first  fears. 

Pass  on  until  you  come  to  another  piece  of  wet 
ground,  when  ten  chances  to  one  your  dog  points 
again,  and  another  brood  springs.  It  is  absurd 
for  writers  to  tell  you  that  young  cocks  in  July 
are  only  half-fledged,  and  may  be  knocked  down 
with  a  pole.  When  flushed  on  the  breeding 
ground,  their  first  flight,  though  seldom  pro- 
tracted beyond  one  hundred  yards,  is  sufficiently 
agile  and  vigorous  to  puzzle  aught  but  a  good 
shot  to  bring  both  birds  down;  indeed,  we  have 
known  a  young  cock,  refusing  to  lie  a  second 
time  to  the  dog,  to  fly  entirely  through  a  piece  of 
wood  containing  many  acres,  and  take  refuge  at 
last  in  the  middle  of  a  rye-field. 

Indeed,  if  for  the  purpose  of  observation  and 
inquiry,  you  traverse  the  woods  at  this  period, 
you  will  be  fully  satisfied  of  the  power  of  their 
flight,  by  watching  the  rapid  and  dexterous  man- 
ner in  which  they  dart  among  the  surrounding 
tree  trunks,  very  different  from  the  lazy,  listless 
way  in  which  the  old  birds  flap  over  a  meadow 
in  the  glare  of  day. 

In  making  these  remarks  we  would  by  no 
means  be  understood  to  countenance  cock  shoot- 
ing at  this  season  of  the  year. 


90  KKIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

When  thus  harassed,  the  birds  leave  the  woods 
and  seek  other  quarters  in  the  succeeding  spring. 
They  formerly  bred  abundantly  in  Haycock 
township,  Bucks  county;  but  some  foolish  fellow 
from  Bethlehem,  having  laid  a  wager  that  he 
could  kill  a  hundred  birds  in  a  day,  in  accom- 
plishing this  murderous  feat,  made  cocks  ex- 
tremely scarce  in  this  district  for  several  succes- 
sive seasons.  We  wrere  told  by  an  innkeeper  on 
the  old  Bethlehem  road,  that  he  saw  this  man 
count  out  ninety-six  woodcock  on  his  bar-room 
floor. 

That  they  are  much  more  abundantly  diffused 
over  the  country,  than  their  peculiar  habits  lead 
the  inhabitants  to  suppose,  there  is  no  manner  of 
doubt.  Mr.  Krider  remembers  well  an  old  far- 
mer residing  near  Moorestown,  New  Jersey,  who, 
accidentally  flushing  cocks  in  his  woods,  pro- 
cured a  quantity  of  powder  and  shot,  and  being 
somewhat  conversant  in  the  art  of  pulling  a  trig- 
ger, in  one  day  killed  an  almost  incredible  num- 
ber, which  he  carried  to  the  Philadelphia  market, 
to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  hucksters. 

The  birds  were  in  the  habit  of  breeding  in  the 
same  woods,  and  the  old  fellow,  well  satisfied 
with  his  day's  work,  has  been  on  the  lookout  for 
the  long  bills  ever  since;  and  it  concerns  us  to 
state,  to  but  little  purpose. 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  91 

Iii  the  summer  of  1844,  while  visiting  the 
breeding  grounds,  in  company  with  a  young 
friend,  he  unfortunately  shot  a  hen-bird,  while 
engaged  in  performing  those  little  interesting 
manoeuvres  by  which  she  hoped  to  decoy  our 
steps  from  the  vicinity  of  her  unfledged  young. 
The  brood,  consisting  of  four  half-grown  birds, 
were  preserved  and  carried  to  the  farm-house, 
where  two  of  them  were  accidentally  killed  the 
same  night,  A  box  was  procured,  the  bottom 
strewn  with  soft  earth  and  dead  leaves,  strips 
nailed  across  to  prevent  the  birds  from  escaping, 
and  the  next  morning  they  were  placed  in  their 
new  abode.  Being  very  wild  and  their  bills 
tender,  great  care  was  required  in  feeding  them, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  cover  the  slats  to  prevent 
them  from  injuring  themselves  by  fluttering  up 
against  the  top  of  the  box.  The  mode  of  forcing 
them  to  feed  which  we  at  first  adopted,  was  to 
take  them  out  of  the  box,  open  the  bill  and  place 
the  worm  athwart,  when,  after  a  few  ineffectual 
attempts,  the  birds  took  them  down. 

This  plan  succeeded  well  for  a  few  days,  when, 
to  our  suprise  and  gratification,  one  bird  readily 
took  his  food  from  our  fingers,  and  soon  became 
so  tame  as  to  require  no  further  handling.  The 
other  fellow  continued  as  wild  as  before,  and  after 


92  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

giving  us  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  when  nearly 
full-grown  accidentally  received  a  tap  on  the 
head  with  a  finger,  which,  to  our  unfeigned  re- 
gret, killed  it  on  the  spot. 

We  have  no  objections  to  state,  notwithstand- 
ing the  sympathy  of  Dr.  Lewis  for  young  cocks, 
that,  ogre-like,  we  did  eat  this  bird  without  any 
remorse  of  conscience,  and  found  it  very  tender 
and  juicy. 

The  other  bird  did  not  appear  to  miss  his  wild 
brother;  perhaps,  like  bipeds  without  feathers, 
he  consoled  his  grief  with  the  substantial  reflec- 
tion that  he  would  now  have  the  box  and  all  the 
larvae  to  himself.  But  this  is  scandal,  for  instead 
of  becoming  proud  and  politic,  he  grew  more  gen- 
tle and  tame  from  day  to  day,  and  the  reader  has 
no  idea  as  he  increased  in  grace  how  he  gained 
upon  our  affection.  In  truth,  to  speak  without 
quirk  or  quibble,  we  fairly  loved  that  woodcock. 
We  had  cause.  He  was  certainly  feeding  on 
those  unpoetical  gournaments,  who  were  ulti- 
mately destined  to  revel  upon  us,  and  he  did  this 
three  times  a  day,  in  such  an  easy,  recherche 
way,  that  we  had  no  words  to  express  our  grati- 
tude. The  thing  was  too  exquisite.  It  was  re- 
ally like  carrying  the  war  into  the  grim  enemy's 
country.  We  kept  him  amply  supplied  and  he 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  93 

fed  equally  well,  when  sharp  set,  at  any  period 
of  the  twenty-four  hours. 

Often  when'  engaged  in  reading  or  writing  at 
night,  in  our  little  apartment,  we  have  paused  to 
listen  as  we  heard  him  moving  about  in  his  still, 
prying  way,  turning  over  the  dead  leaves  and 
probing  the  crannies  of  the  box  in  pursuit  of  his 
prey.  When  the  bars  were  removed,  he  some- 
times flew  out,  and  after  making  a  survey  of  the 
room — to  ascertain,  as  we  supposed,  if  a  pet 
spaniel  was  present — invariably  took  a  position 
close  to  our  feet,  which  he  was  fond  of  playfully 
striking  at  with  his  long  bill.  This  was  slightly 
bent  and  protuberant  at  the  middle  of  the  upper 
mandible,  giving  him  a  strange  and  somewhat 
grotesque  appearance. 

We  have  often  watched  this  bird  attentively, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  feeding  from  surfaces 
of  different  depths  and  consistency,  which  had 
been  purposely  presented  to  him,  after  he  was 
full  grown.  When  his  food  was  merely  thrown 
out  of  a  cup  in  the  usual  way,  if  not  very  hun- 
gry, he  would  stand  steadfastly  eyeing  the  coil- 
ing, twisting  mass,  waiting  patiently  until  some 
of  its  component  parts  had  disengaged  them- 
selves, and  crawled  under  the  dead  leaves  or  into 
the  angles  or  edges  of  the  box ;  then  slowly  in- 


94  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES 

sorting  the  end  of  his  bill  into  their  hiding  places, 
he  drew  them  out  one  by  one,  and,  lifting  them 
gently  up,  swept  them  into  his  gullet  by  a  sim- 
ple motion  of  the  head  and  neck,  and  an  almost 
imperceptible  movement  of  the  tongue.  If  his 
appetite  was  keen,  however,  he  did  not  stand  to 
parley,  but  attacked  the  mass  pell-mell,  striking 
and  devouring  each  worm  singly  with  astonish- 
ing ease  and  despatch,  until  his  wants  were  satis- 
fied or  not  a  single  individual  remained. 

Before  he  was  fully  feathered  the  worms  could 
easily  be  observed  twisting  in  his  crop,  as  he  sat 
dozing  at  his  ease,  like  an  alderman  after  his  din- 
ner. No  doubt  some  of  our  delicate  readers  will 
regard  this  as  rather  an  indifferent  subject  of 
remark ;  but  we  assure  them,  without  intending 
in  the  least  to  crack  jokes,  that  the  sight  was 
nuts  to  us,  and  we  were  at  a  loss  to  invent  means 
to  glorify  that  woodcock. 

The  snake-bird — Plotus  Melanogaster — which 
does  not  even  eat  snakes,  by  the  way,  and  the 
secretary  bird,  which  does — were  mere  gobbling 
creatures  of  instinct  compared  with  him.  He 
went  to  his  feasts  as  scientifically  and  with  as 
much  gusto  as  Lucullus  himself.  It  really  seemed 
as  if  his  whole  tribe  had  owed  the  worms  of  the 
earth  an  irreconcilable  grudge  since  the  days  of 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  95 

Adam.  If  so,  they  had  no  time  to  cry  peccavi  ; 
they  did  not  even  wriggle  at  his  bill's  point ;  but 
almost  seemed  to  glide  voluntarily  down  his 
throat,  so  quickly  and  evenly  did  they  disappear. 
Beholding  this,  we  gave  free  vent  to  our  glee, 
and  remembering  a  line  of  Lord  Byron's,  which 
disagreeably  intimates  that  man's  body  was  made 
"to  clog  the  soul  and  feast  the  worm,"  we  at  once 
came  to  the  sage  conclusion  that  a  woodcock  was 
made  for  exactly  an  inverse  purpose ;  and  not  being 
able  to  compete  with  his  lordship's  all-engrossing 
verse,  we  contented  ourselves  with  granting  our 
bird  full  supplies,  besides  decreeing  him  "  the 
garland  of  the  war."  And  to  say  the  truth,  he 
deserved  it.  He  would  empty  a  pint  cup  of  the 
small  reptiles  in  twrenty-four  hours ;  and  as  for 
trying  his  ingenuity  by  hiding  them  three  or 
four  inches  deep  in  the  soft,  moist  earth,  why  a 
covey  of  birds  feeding  in  the  stubbles,  writh  the 
scent  blowing  freely  from  their  feathers,  had 
about  as  much  chance  of  escaping  from  your 
pointer's  nose,  as  the  enemy  from  his  infallible 
bill. 

But  how  did  he  proceed  to  effect  this,  you  ask; 
what  was  his  system  of  tactics  ?  My  dear  reader, 
compose  yourself  and  listen. 

When  placed  upon  ground  thus  prepared,  if 


96  KRIDEll'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

his  fast  had  been  purposely  protracted,  he  would 
first  industriously  dibble  the  earth  with  his  bill, 
striking  it  rapidly  a  dozen  times  or  more  into  the 
cover,  after  the  manner  of  a  snipe ;  then  seating 
himself  on  his  breast,  or  more  frequently  stand- 
ing in  the  middle  of  the  box,  he  turned  his  large 
full  eyes  intently  on  the  holes  thus  bored,  in  a 
very  singular  and  knowing  way.  The  first  time 
which  we  saw  him  in  this  attitude,  we  felt  as- 
sured of  what  w\is  to  follow,  and  that  he  was  in- 
stinctively acquainted  with  the  habits  of  his  prey. 
Presently,  after  the  lapse  of  a  moment  or  two, 
you  observe  his  neck  feathers  slightly  ruffle,  and 
that  instant,  with  the  quickness  of  thought,  he 
half  turned  his  head,  struck  and  devoured  a  worm. 
In  this  manner  he  continued  to  feed,  occasionally 
shifting  his  ground  a  few  steps  and  boring  afresh, 
until  the  whole  space  was  thoroughly  riddled  and 
not  a  single  worm  left. 

We  have  observed  him  thus  employed  for  more 
than  half  an  hour  at  a  time,  and  have  no  doubt 
that  he  was  materially  assisted  in  his  operations 
by  the  movements  of  the  worms,  which  evidently 
worked  up  towards  the  holes  bored  in  the  soil. 
Whether  he  was  guided  by  the  sense  of  smell  or 
not,  we  are  not  prepared  to  say.  In  fact,  some 
experiments  which  were  made  at  the  time  in  re- 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  97 

ference  to  this  point,  inclined  us  to  think  that 
this  sense  was  obtuse  in  our  bird. 

Mr.  Bowles,  an  English  traveller,  who,  many 
years  since,  had  the  pleasure  of  observing  wood- 
cock feed  in  an  aviary,  supposed  that  they  dis- 
covered their  prey  by  this  faculty  alone,  because 
he  noticed  that  in  boring  they  never  struck  their 
bill  into  the  earth  further  than  the  orifice  of  the 
nostrils.  The  inference,  however,  is  fallible,  for 
the  reason  that  birds  breathe  chiefly  through 
their  spiracles,  and  are  very  sensitive  to  the  in- 
troduction of  any  thing  but  air  into  them,  as  you 
may  easily  satisfy  yourself  by  noticing  pigeons 
and  fowls  when  they  drink,  or  feed  upon  soft 
food. 

The  circumstance  that  the  woodcock,  as  he 
expresses  it,  "  never  missed  its  aim,"  is  more  con- 
clusive. Microscopic  dissection  has  revealed  the 
fact,  that  the  bill  of  the  bird  in  question  is  sup- 
plied with  a  branch  of  the  cranical  nerves,  the 
minute  filaments  of  which  are  distributed  to  the 
knob  at  the  end  of  the  upper  mandible,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  snipe — scolopax  Wilsonii — the  tip  of 
whose  bill  after  death  becomes  finely  pitted  or 
dimpled,  though  in  life  it  is  very  smooth;  the 
sense  of  hearing  in  birds  is  supposed  to  be  much 
more  -delicate  than  that  of  smell ;  the  sight  is  the 


98  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

most  acute  of  all  the  other  faculties;  and  in  the 
case  of  the  woodcock,  as  before  remarked,  the 
eyes  are  unusually  large  and  full,  and  set  high 
in  the  skull  to  enlarge  the  field  of  vision  by  the 
reception  of  the  faintest  ray  of  light  which  may 
enter  the  dark  coverts  in  which  they  feed ;  so 
that  if  we  suppose  that  our  woodcock,  while 
standing  in  his  striking  attitude  over  the  holes 
he  had  bored  when  the  worms  were  buried  be- 
yond his  reach,  was  actually  scenting  their  pecu- 
liar odor,  listening  to  their  movements  in  the 
earth — like  the  woodpecker  to  those  of  the  in- 
sects which  his  death-taps  on  the  surface  have 
started  from  the  interior  of  the  hollow  limb — and 
watching  for  them  to  crawl  up  in  his  sight  or 
within  the  length  of  his  bill,  we  then  have  a 
combination  of  four  faculties  admirably  adapted 
to  the  support  of  this  bird  in  its  wild  state,  when, 
from  its  powers  of  digestion  and  the  nature  of  its 
prey,  it  is  known  to  require  a  prodigious  quan- 
tity of  food. 

Woodcock  have  been  killed  at  all  hours  of  the 
day,  and  yet  those  who  have  examined  their  ali- 
mentary parts  will  tell  you  that  they  rarely  found 
a  worm  even  in  their  crops,  and  never  in  their 
stomachs ;  hence  the  old  and  prevalent  idea  that 
they  abstracted  the  substance  of  the  worm  by 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  99 

suction.  By  some  men  of  no  erudition  yet  of 
ordinary  intelligence,  this  absurdity  is  still  be- 
lieved. 

However,  without  wishing  to  detract  in  the 
least  from  the  merits  of  Mr.  Bowies'  observa- 
tions, we  will  no\v  relate  the  course  of  our  expe- 
riments, leaving  the  reader  to  judge  of  the 
result. 

We  took  our  bird  from  its  place  of  confine- 
ment at  its  usual  feeding  time,  and  buried  in 
each  corner  of  the  box  two  large  earth-worms,  an 
inch  and  a  half  deep  in  the  soft,  black  loam ;  he 
was  then  immediately  replaced,  and  at  once  be- 
gan to  bore  eagerly  in  the  middle  of  the  box, 
where,  for  the  purpose  of  observation,  his  food 
was  usually  placed  ;  it  was  not  until  he  had  ex- 
plored that  spot  thoroughly  that  he  changed  his 
ground,  and  at  last  discovered  and  drew  out  the 
objects  concealed.  We  continued  the  experi- 
ment until  he  fell  into  the  habit  of  first  searching 
the  corners  of  the  box ;  we  then  hid  a  dozen 
worms  the  same  depth,  in  the  same  kind  of  soil, 
but  in  the  old  spot;  the  result  was  the  same. 
He  first  went  to  one  corner  of  the  box,  and  being 
disappointed  there,  bored  in  another,  and  finally 
returned  to  his  usual  place.  We  intended  to 
have  carried  our  experiments  farther,  but  being 


100  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

obliged  to  go  to  the  city,  our  stay  was  prolonged 
for  a  fortnight,  and  upon  our  return,  we  found 
the  bird  had  died  from  neglect,  or,  as  the  farmer's 
boys  in  whose  care  it  was  left,  pertinaciously 
asserted,  from  the  effects  of  a  surfeit. 

Woodcock  often  return  for  successive  seasons 
to  the  same  spots  to  rear  their  young.  This  fact 
was  long  ago  satisfactorily  proved  in  England, 
and  in  Pennsylvania  nests  have  been  found  for 
two  springs  in  succession,  beneath  the  same  bush, 
on  a  piece  of  slightly  elevated  ground  sheltered 
from  the  west  winds  by  a  woods.  We  have  not  the 
least  doubt  of  the  identity  of  the  inhabitant ;  in 
fact,  this  peculiarity  is  remarked  in  many  other 
migratory  birds  of  a  more  familiar  nature.  Wil- 
son, the  father  of  American  ornithology,  whose 
acuteness  of  observation  was  only  equalled  by  his 
regard  for  truth  and  his  unobtrusive  modesty, 
repeatedly  refers  to  it  as  not  the  least  interesting 
among  the  habits  of  the  creatures  he  was  called 
upon  describe. 

The  woodcock  has  been  known  to  exhibit, 
under  certain  circumstances,  curious  symptoms 
of  anger,  somewhat  similar  to  the  pompous  strut- 
tings  of  the  turkey.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  Au- 
gust Mr.  Krider  was  shooting  in  the  mountains 
of  Bedford  county,  Pennsylvania,  birds  being 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  101 

then  numerous  in  this  section  of  the  country, 
when  a  cock  suddenly  flew  up  and  alit  within  a 
few  feet  of  the  nose  of  his  dog.  It  ran  slowly 
before  the  animal,  dropping  its  wings,  spreading 
its  tail,  ruffling  its  plumage,  and  manifesting 
every  sign  of  impotent  rage.  Mr.  Krider  was  so 
surprised  at  these  manoeuvres,  never  having  seen 
any  thing  of  the  kind  in  the  woodcock  before,  that 
when  it  sprung  at  last  he  missed  it  with  both 
barrels,  and  at  the  report  of  his  piece,  eight  or 
nine  birds  rose  close  to  him,  in  a  small,  swampy 
thicket  where  he  started  the  first  bird.  From 
the  fact  of  this  bird  being  of  unusual  size,  he  was 
of  opinion  that  it  was  a  female. 

Mr.  William  McGuigan  also  shot  a  bird  in  the 
state  of  New  Jersey,  under  similar  circum- 
stances. We  saw  this  specimen  in  the  Chinese 
Museum,  prepared  in  that  gentleman's  inimitable 
way,  exactly  in  the  position  in  which  it  was 
killed,  and  from  a  casual  inspection  of  it,  believe 
it  to  be  a  female  bird.  A  sporting  acquaintance 
of  ours,  while  "  cripple  shooting,"  saw  a  bird, 
which  the  dogs  had  flushed  in  the  covert  where 
several  cocks  had  already  been  started  and  killed, 
alight  on  the  bank,  and  perform  the  same  eccen- 
tric movements  within  a  few  feet  of  him. 

In  the  summer  of  1840,  while  we  were  con- 
7 


102  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

versing  with  a  farmer  who  was  engaged  in  har- 
rowing corn,  a  cock  suddenly  flew  out  of  a  woods 
and  alit  in  a  furrow  close  to  the  horses,  who  were 
standing  still  at  the  moment.  The  bird  did  not 
appear  to  notice  us,  but  drooping  its  wings  and 
inverting  its  feathers,  stuck  its  bill  in  the  ground 
several  times  as  in  the  act  of  boring ;  before  we 
had  an  opportunity  of  noticing  it  further,  the  rat- 
tling of  the  gears,  caused  by  a  movement  of  one 
of  the  horses,  startled  it,  and  with  a  shrill  cry  it 
flew  back  to  the  woods.  Some  rain  had  fallen 
the  night  previous,  and  the  soil  was  wet  to  the 
depth  of  an  inch  or  more ;  the  corn  was  still 
short,  and  from  our  position  on  the  fence  we 
could  distinctly  see  the  bird.  Whether  our  pre- 
sence had  any  thing  to  do  with  its  actions  we  can- 
not say ;  possibly,  if  it  had  remained  a  few  mo- 
ments something  might  have  followed  to  eluci- 
date the  mystery.* 

Woodcock  shooting  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Philadelphia,  like  snipe  shooting,  has  declined 
within  a  few  years  and  from  similar  causes,  but 
not  to  the  same  extent.  Great  numbers  of  birds 
are  still  shot  in  the  months  of  June  and  July 

*  Woodcocks  are  sometimes  seen  boring  into  decayed  stumps  for 
wood-worms.  We  once  saw  a  bird  thus  engaged  in  the  crotch  of  a 
•lead  willow  tree. 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  103 

along  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  by  those  who 
pursue  this  sport  for  pleasure  or  profit.  It  is 
quite  a  frequent  occurrence  in  favorable  seasons, 
for  two  or  three  good  shots  to  kill  from  twenty  to 
thirty  cocks  before  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
between  the  navy-yard  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Schuylkill,  a  distance  of  five  miles.  In  fact, 
to  enjoy  this  kind  of  shooting  at  all,  you  must 
be  up  and  off  long  before  sunrise,  so  as  to  be 
on  the  ground  and  have  your  sport  over  be- 
fore the  heat  of  the  day.  If  the  weather  has 
been  dry  for  some  time  previous,  you  may  be  cer- 
tain of  finding  birds  in  "  the  cripples,"  that  is, 
if  your  purpose  has  not  been  forestalled  by  some 
detachment  of  bank-shooters,  who  would  appear 
to  have  slept  on  their  arms  under  the  trees  in 
some  adjoining  meadow,  so  as  to  commence  the 
action  as  soon  as  it  is  light  enough  to  shoot,  The 
vociferous  clamor  and  continued  firing  of  the 
sharp-shooters,  when  birds  are  abundant,  furnish 
no  bad  representation  of  a  skirmish  in  the  gray 
of  dawn,  while  their  flushed  faces  and  constant 
dodging  up  and  down  the  bank  (often  loading  as 
they  run)  to  keep  pace  with  the  yells  of  their 
canine  assistants  and  the  shouts  of  their  compa- 
nions in  the  covert,  in  no  wise  detract  from  the 
merits  of  the  scene.  It  is  customary  for  them  to 


104  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

go  in  parties  of  four,  two  of  whom  enter  "  the 
cripple"  with  three  or  four  setter  dogs,  while  one 
of  the  others  remains  on  the  bank,  and  the  other 
takes  his  place  on  the  "drift"  on  the  outside  of 
the  cripple  nearest  the  river. 

Spaniels,  by  the  way,  are  held  in  little  esteem 
for  this  arduous  sport,  and  they  who  use  them 
select  a  stock  much  stronger  and  hardier  than 
the  little  English  cocker,  which  is  worse  than 
useless.  The  last  soon  fag  in  the  heavy,  encum- 
bered ground,  and  after  a  little  experience  in 
what  they  are  expected  to  do,  learn  to  skulk,  or 
to  answer  their  excited  master's  "hie  on  !"  with 
shrill,  helpless  cries  of  concern,  as  if  to  intimate 
that  they  are  sorry  for  it,  but  really  the  thing 
will  not  do.  Setters,  being  better  able  to  stand 
the  work,  on  the  contrary,  take  so  kindly  to  it, 
that  they  often  give  tongue  on  every  bird,  and 
acquire  a  habit  of  flushing  game,  which,  of  course, 
destroys  their  utility  as  field  dogs.  It  is  seldom 
that  even  the  best  bred  setter,  if  encouraged,  sea- 
son after  season,  to  range  and  hunt  out  a  cripple, 
can  be  depended  on  out  of  it ;  instances  are,  how- 
ever, known,  where  dogs  have  seemed  to  com- 
prehend exactly  what  was  required  of  them,  when 
hunting  the  same  description  of  bird  in  different 
kinds  of  ground ;  and  we  have  heard  of  setters, 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  105 

and  more  especially  pointers,  who,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  doggerel, 

Would  flush  a  woodcock  in  a  swamp, 
And  stand  it  in  the  clear. 

But  these  instances  are  rare,  and  if  you  have  any 
regard  for  the  standing  of  your  dog,  do  not  suffer 
him  to  enter  a  cripple. 

However,  the  bank-shooters  are  at  their  sta- 
tions; the  dogs  dash  in,  and  presently  you 
hear  a  yell,  followed  by  a  shot,  or  a  shout  of 
"mark!  bird  up!"  from  within,  and  a  report  or 
two  from  the  bank,  or  the  outside,  according  to 
the  direction  which  the  bird  takes.  You  may 
readily  imagine  what  ensues,  when  you  are  told 
that  every  step  in  the  dark  cover  is  in  deep,  black 
mire,  strewn  with  decaying  drift-wood,  and  over- 
grown with  stunted  trees,  reeds  and  thick  alder 
bushes,  and  when  the  birds  are  put  up  rapidly, 
the  alarm-notes,  firing,  and  yells  of  men  and  dogs 
increase  in  proportion,  while  the  affrighted  ob- 
jects of  pursuit,  driven  from  every  covert  by  the 
dogs,  dart  up  and  down  the  cripple,  to  fall  vic- 
tims at  last  to  the  unerring  aim  of  the  marks- 
men. When  the  latter  are  up  to  their  business, 
few,  indeed,  escape,  although  it  must  be  said  that, 
if  the  woodcock  is  naturally  a  stupid  bird,  as 
.some  people  assert,  cripple  shooting  is  a  rare 


106  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

mode  of  quickening  his  torpid  faculties.  Under 
the  spur  of  its  application  he  sometimes  betakes 
him  to  the  wiles  of  his  cousin,  the  snipe,  turning 
and  twisting  on  the  wing  so  as  to  elude  the  shoot- 
er's aim — darting  and  flitting  low  round  the  trees 
and  bushes,  so  as  to  disappoint  his  most  sanguine 
calculations — now  springing,  with  a  shrill  cry,  at 
his  very  feet,  and  now  stealing  away  silently,  at 
his  back,  until  the  man  grows  bewildered  in  spite 
of  himself,  his  dog  loses  heart,  and  the  bird  by 
sheer  dint  of  its  ingenuity  escapes  from  them 
both.  It  is  ludicrous,  in  this  case,  to  observe  the 
manner  in  which  either  manifest  their  chagrin. 
The  shooter  besmirched,  perhaps,  from  top  to  toe, 
his  face  begrimmed  with  powder  and  his  eyes 
blinded  with  sweat,  mutters  his  disappointment 
in  "  curses  not  loud  but  deep,"  while  Dash,  in  as 
sorry  a  plight,  looks  wearily  up  in  his  vexed 
face,  with  a  despondent  wag  of  his  tail,  as  if, 
though  loath  to  admit  the  fact,  he  needs  must  own 
that  that  cock  was  too  much  for  him,  too.  This 
is  the  kind  of  shooting  against  which  many 
sportsmen,  with  some  appearance  of  pique  and 
more  of  justice,  yearly  exclaim.  Should  the 
weather  continue  dry,  it  lasts  from  early  in  June 
until  the  birds  leave  the  cripples  to  moult,  in  the 
month  of  August. 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  107 

Some  of  the  old  haunts  for  cock  along  the  Dela- 
ware, were  very  famous  in  our  young  days.  The 
drifts  or  higher  portions  of  the  flats,  where  the 
refuse  of  the  tides  had  collected,  were  sure  spots, 
especially  those  where  the  fishermen  resorted  to 
dig  up  worms.  On  the  Cakehouse  drift  fourteen 
or  fifteen  birds  have  been  killed  in  one  morning. 
Hay  Creek  cripple  was  considered  well  worth 
hunting  out,  and  at  the  name  of  Whitehall  many 
an  old  cock  shooter  will  start  as  at  the  sound  of 
a  trumpet.  This  was  situated  on  Hollander's 
Creek,  and  was  esteemed  the  best  place  within 
ten  miles  around.  The  drift  at  the  head  of 
Broad  Marsh,  below  the  Point  House,  and  all  the 
drifts  and  cripples  along  the  river  and  the  creeks 
running  into  it,  were,  and  are  at  the  present  day, 
excellent  places  for  cocks  in  dry  weather.  But 
if  rain  falls  in  any  considerable  quantity,  the 
birds  then  leave  these  places  and  disperse  over 
the  meadows.  Strange  as  it  may  sound  to  the 
sportsman,  many  persons  who  shoot  are  utterly 
ignorant  of  this  fact.  Mr.  Krider  was  once  in- 
vited by  a  friend  to  shoot  cocks  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Wilmington,  Delaware  ;  the  season  had 
been  dry,  and  many  birds  had  been  killed  in  the 
cripples ;  but  a  heavy  shower  of  rain  having  wet 
the  meadows  and  corn-fields,  the  party  hunted  in 


108  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  usual  places  in  vain,  to  the  great  annoyance 

of ,  who,  having  found  them  abundant  for 

several  successive  days  previous,  could  in  no 
wise  account  for  the  sudden  disappearance. 

"  Where  do  you  shoot  snipe  ?"  inquired  Krider, 
after  the  other  had  completely  exhausted  him- 
self and  his  patience  in  his  fruitless  endeavors  to 
show  sport. 

"  In  yonder  meadow,"  answered ;  "  but 

you  will  find  none  there  at  this  season." 

"  Let  us  try,  nevertheless,"  said  Krider. 

After  much  persuasion  he  consented  to  lead 
the  way,  and  in  this  meadow  they  killed  twenty- 
seven  cocks,  to  the  great  delight  and  suprise  of 

,  who  was  now  extremely  anxious  to  visit  all 

such  golden  spots  within  the  compass  of  a  day's 
hunt.  The  party  brought  in  forty-five  birds  at 
night-fall,  every  one  of  which  was  killed  in  the 
meadows. 

On  another  occasion,  in  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  forty-one,  Mr.  Krider,  in  company 
with  a  friend,  killed  sixty-three  birds  in  a  range 
of  meadows  and  a  maple  swamp  near  Rights- 
town,  New  Jersey,  by  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, returning  to  Philadelphia  the  same  day. 
The  ground  at  this  place  has  been  so  much  im- 
proved since  his  visit  that  few  birds  are  to  be 
found  there  at  the  present  day. 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  109 

At  most  of  the  places  mentioned  in  the  article 
on  snipe  shooting,  cocks  are  abundant  in  July  if 
the  grounds  be  sufficiently  wet ;  but  at  Port  Penn, 
Delaware,  some  distance  in  the  rear  of  Price's 
hotel,  there  is  a  maple  swamp,  surrounded  by 
very  thick  tussock  meadows,  which  was  and, 
perhaps,  is  still  very  excellent  ground.     On  one 
occasion,  three  shooters  killed  ninety -three  birds 
before  mid-day  among  the  tussocks  and  in  the 
swamp.     We  have  at  times  found  them  abund- 
ant in  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  state  in  Au- 
gust, September,  October;  and  on  the  tenth  of 
November,  when  partridge  shooting,  in  Lehigh 
county,  we  killed  in  the  woods  seventeen  of  the 
finest  birds  which  we  ever  saw  bagged.     It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that,  in  the  fall  of  1845,  we  shot 
two  woodcock  in  a  meadow,  where  a  few  moments 
afterwards,  the  dogs   pointed   snipe.     This  oc- 
curred in  Montgomery  county,  on  a  small  branch 
of  the  Perkiomen  Creek,  watering  a  valley  a  short 
distance  from  the  little  village  of  Salfordville. 
While  killing  a  few  partridges  for  the  table,  we 
unexpectedly  started  three  cocks  from   among 
some  scattered  bushes  which  bordered  a  small 
run.     Upon  examining  these,  it  was  discovered 
that  they  had  not  yet  done  moulting.     A  few 
hundred  yards  further,  six  or  seven  snipe  were 


110  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

sprung  exactly  in  the  place  where  we  expected 
to  find  them,  and  while  charging,  a  young  dog 
in  company,  escaping  our  notice  for  a  moment, 
ran  out  and  stood  in  a  piece  of  sedgy  ground, 
partially  covered  with  rank  grass  and  rushes. 
On  our  approach  he  was  staunchly  backed  by 
the  old  dog,  and  two  more  cocks  sprung.  The 
last  proved  to  be  in  the  same  condition  as  the 
others ;  but  though  we  beat  this  meadow  care- 
fully and  several  others  in  the  course  of  the 
afternoon,  we  saw  no  more  birds,  nor  have  we 
ever  found  them  since  in  a  meadow  at  this  sea- 
son of  the  year. 

When  hunting  ruifed  grouse  in  October, 
among  the  stony  hills  of  Montgomery  and  Berks, 
we  have  sometimes  killed  cocks  in  small  spots  of 
black  marshy  ground  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
huge  gray  rocks,  from  some  one  of  which  a 
spring  issued.  During  the  heat  of  summer  we 
have  found  them  in  dense,  dry  thickets  and 
copses  not  far  from  the  feeding  ground,  and  when 
driven  out  into  the  glare  of  day  they  almost  in- 
variably pitch  close  to  a  fence,  or  a  tree,  as  if 
blinded  by  the  light.  There  is  a  small  species 
of  hawk  which  builds  its  nest  in  a  retired  part 
of  the  woods,  and  is  a  great  enemy  to  these  birds 
on  the  breeding  ground.  We  have  never  been 


WOODCOCK  SHOOTING.  Ill 

able  to  shoot  or  trap  it.  It  has  a  shrill  scream; 
is  between  the  size  of  a  sparrow-hawk  and  the 
falco  columbarius,  and  is  exceedingly  watchful 
and  wary.  It  often  visits  the  orchard  and  the 
vicinity  of  the  barn-yard  early  in  the  morning  to 
carry  off  young  chickens.  We  have  several  times 
seen  it  swoop  down  from  the  topmost  branch  of 
a  tree  and  seize  a  woodcock,  and  have  spent 
hours  in  the  woods  on  foot  and  on  horseback  fol- 
lowing its  cry  in  vain  endeavor  to  shoot  it,  or  to 
discover  its  nest.  A  son  of  the  farmer  informed 
us  that  he  had  twice  found  the  latter  near  the 
top  of  very  tall  trees ;  in  each  case  the  young 
birds  had  flown,  and  the  bottom  of  the  nest  was 
covered  with  the  bones  and  other  remains  of  va- 
rious small  birds.  Its  cry  is  heard  in  the  deepest 
part  of  the  woods,  at  all  hours  of  the  day ;  its  tail 
is  barred  with  white ;  but  wiiether  it  is  the  falco 
velox  of  Wilson  or  no,  we  are  unable  to  say. 

We  certainly  never  felt  inclined  to  doubt  the 
accuracy  of  Audubon's  remark  that  the  wood- 
cock never  feeds  on  salt  marshes,  until  last  sum- 
mer, when  we  were  requested  by  one  of  a  party 
of  four  at  supper,  to  taste  a  portion  of  a  bird, 
which  we  did  in  turn,  and  all  agreed  that  it  was 
decidedly  sedgy.  This  bird  was  one  of  eighteen 
which  had  been  killed  in  a  meadow  below 


112  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Pennsgrove,  on  the  previous  day.  by  two  of  the 
party  present.  They  were  served  up  with  their 
heads  on,  so  that  no  deception  could  have  been 
practiced  had  the  circumstances  warranted  such 
a  suspicion.  Brewer  has  remarked  that  a  per- 
son, technically  ignorant  of  ornithology,  would 
at  once  pick  out  a  woodcock  from  a  snipe,  from 
something  peculiar  in  its  appearance.  Besides 
the  "plumed  tibid,  the  tarvi  are  much  shorter, 
and  shows  that  the  bird  is  not  intended  to  wade, 
or  to  frequent  very  marshy  situations,  like  the 
snipe.  The  plumage  of  the  former  is  also  of  a 
more  sombre  shade." 

When  found  in  a  meadow  they  are  much 
more  easily  killed  than  snipe,  and  with  steady 
dogs  very  few  ought  to  escape.  This  bird,  like 
the  snipe,  has  a  remarkably  game  look ;  some 
sportsmen  before  consigning  them  to  the  bag, 
display  as  much  fondness  over  them  as  the  two 
executioners  so  admirably  described  in  Quintin 
Durward,  were  wont  to  do  over  their  victims, 
with  this  difference,  that  the  latter  spoke  to  liv- 
ing and  the  former  to  dead  ears. 


THE    RICE-BUNTING,  OR  REED-BIRD. 

EMBERIZA  ORYZIVOKA. 

Description. — "  The  rice-bunting  is  seven  and 
a  half  inches  long,  and  eleven  and  a  half  in  extent. 
His  spring  dress  is  as  follows :  Upper  part  of 
the  head,  wings,  tail,  and  sides  of  the  neck,  and 
whole  lower  parts  black ;  the  feathers  frequently 
skirted  with  brownish  yellow,  as  he  passes  into 
the  colors  of  the  female ;  back  of  the  head,  a 
cream  color ;  back,  black,  seamed  with  brown- 
ish yellow;  scapulars  pure  white;  rump  and 
tail  coverts  the  same ;  lower  part  of  the  back, 
bluish  white ;  tail,  formed  like  those  of  the  wood- 
pecker genus,  and  often  used  in  the  same  man- 
ner, being  thrown  in  to  support  it  while  ascend- 
ing the  stalks  of  the  reed ;  this  habit  of  throwing 
in  the  tail  it  retains  even  in  the  cage ;  legs,  a 
brownish  flesh  color  ;  hind  heel,  very  long;  bill, 
a  bluish  horn  color;  eye,  hazel.  In  the  month 
of  June  this  plumage  gradually  changes  to  a 
brownish  yellow,  like  that  of  the  female,  which 
has  the  back  streaked  with  brownish  black; 


114  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

whole  lower  parts,  dull  yellow;  bill,  reddish 
flesh  color;  legs  and  eyes  as  in  the  male. 
The  young  birds  retain  the  dress  of  the  female 
until  the  early  part  of  the  succeeding  spring; 
the  plumage  of  the  female  undergoes  no  ma- 
terial change  of  color." 

We  have  nothing  new  to  say  of  this  well- 
known  and  delicious  bird.  It  visits  this  part  of 
the  state  early  in  May,  when  the  song  of  the 
males  is  heard  in  every  meadow. 

Such  was  the  impression  made  upon  us,  last 
spring,  by  the  sweet,  tinkling  notes  which  pro- 
ceeded from  a  large  flock  perched  on  a  willow 
tree,  that  although  in  search  of  specimens  at  the 
moment,  we  took  the  gun  from  our  shoulder 
and  forbore  to  shoot.  The  actions  of  the  male 
while  singing  reminded  us  somewhat  of  those 
of  the  canary.  The  notes  are  tiny  and  delicate, 
like  those  of  a  small  musical-box,  but  extremely 
rapid,  short  and  varied,  and  very  expressive  of 
an  etherial  lightness  of  spirit.  If  the  listener 
closes  his  eyes  for  a  moment,  he  might  almost 
imagine  the  presence  of  some  fairy  beings,  ca- 
rolling in  the  air  to  the  praise  of  the  new-born 
May.  In  an  instant,  however,  the  concert  ceases, 
and,  opening  your  eyes,  perhaps  you  see  the 
whole  flock  in  the  act  of  alighting  on  the  ground. 


THE  RICE-BUNTING,  OR  REED-BIRD.  Ho 

In  a  few  moments  they  fly  to  the  tree  again,  or 
upon  a  rail  fence,  when  the  song  is  resumed 
with  the  same  sweet  and  surprising  effect. 

They  remain  but  a  week  or  two,  and  then 
pass  to  the  northward  and  eastward  to  prepare 
their  nests.  When  the  hen  is  sitting,  the  notes 
of  the  male  are  emitted  in  the  air  near  the  nest, 
and  have  been  pronounced  to  be  in  reality  more 
pleasing  than  those  of  the  European  sky -lark. 
They  have  no  song  in  the  fall,  merely  uttering 
their  usual  chink,  with  which  almost  every  one 
living  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  is  familiar. 

We  killed  numbers  of  these  birds  in  Septem- 
ber last,  in  the  corn-fields  of  Montgomery,  and 
found  many  of  them  in  very  good  order.  The 
same  season,  partridges  being-  very  scarce,  we 
shot  many  of  the  alauda  magna,  or  common 
meadow-lark,  which  were  unusually  abundant, 
and  in  better  order  than  we  remember  to  have 
ever  found  them  before.  The  young  birds  were, 
in  fact,  hardly  inferior  to  the  partridge,  and  we 
continued  to  supply  our  table  with  them  until 
the  severe  weather  set  in,  when  the  flocks  dis- 
appeared. The  shore  or  winter-lark  was  also 
more  common  than  usual  in  this  section  of  the 
country.  They  fly  in  flocks  of  from  twenty  to 
a  hundred,  and  have  a  shrill,  pitiful  note,  some- 


116  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

what  similar  to  that  of  the  killdeer  plover,  but 
much  less  loud  and  distinct.  They  are  as  large 
and  quite  as  plump  as  the  reed-bird  in  Septem- 
ber, and  make  a  very  agreeable  variety  for  the 
table.  On  a  twenty  acre  rye-field,  which  had 
been  strewn  with  manure  during  the  winter,  we 
killed  sixty-three  of  these  birds  in  the  month  of 
January.  Before  the  flock  rises  they  sometimes 
make  a  low,  curring  noise,  and  after  having 
been  shot  at,  circle  swiftly  round  the  field  seve- 
ral times  before  they  alight  again.  It  is  seldom, 
however,  that  the  shooter  can  knock  down  more 
than  two  or  three  at  a  shot,  as  they  fly  loosely, 
and  never  huddle  together  on  the  ground,  ex- 
cept when  sunning  themselves  at  noon.  In  a 
state  of  captivity  they  are  very  wild  and  restless, 
and  we  have  never  been  able  to  preserve  them 
for  any  length  of  time. 

Large  flocks  of  the  little  fringilla  linaria,  or 
lesser  red-poll,  appeared  in  the  fields  during  the 
past  winter.  We  shot  great  numbers  of  them 
feeding  in  the  stubbles,  especially  before  a 
storm;  and,  as  far  as  our  experience  goes,  they 
are  all  marked  at  this  season  with  the  crimson 
patch  on  the  crown.  In.  a  few,  the  color  of  the 
patch  was  less  decided  than  in  others ;  but  out 
of  hundreds  which  we  examined,  not  a  single 


THE  RICE-BUNTING,  OR  REED-BIRD. 

individual  was  found  entirely  destitute  of  it. 
The  rudiments  of  the  red  patch  on  the  breast 
and  rump  can  always  be  distinguished  on  the 
young  males  in  their  winter  dress.  In  some  of 
the  adults  it  is  of  a  rose  color,  and  in  others  of  a 
blood-red.  On  some  occasions  we  found  the  flocks 
dispersed  in  the  woods,  gleaning  from  the  twigs 
of  the  tallest  trees,  and  again  observed  them  in 
the  low  meadows,  where  they  are  fond  of  dab- 
bling in  the  runs  on  a  warm  day.  Their  ap- 
pearance, however,  was  always  uncertain,  and 
after  being  shot  at  several  times,  the  flocks  often 
disappeared  for  a  time  from  the  vicinity.  They 
thrive  in  confinement,  and  have  a  peculiar  chir- 
rup, very  different  from  their  usual  call,  which 
resembles  that  of  the  yellow-bird  (fringilla  tris- 
tis)  and  of  the  canary.  We  sent  a  female  red- 
poll, which  had  been  slightly  injured  on  the 
wing,  to  a  lady  in  Philadelphia,  where  we  saw 
it  in  perfect  health,  some  weeks  afterwards,  in  a 
cage  with  some  canaries. 


THE  GRASS  PLOVER. 

BARTRAM'S  SANDPIPER— PRINGA  BARTRAMIA. 

Description. — "  The   grass  plover  is    twelve 
inches  long,  and  twenty-one  in  extent;  the  bill 
is  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  slightly  bent  down- 
wards, and  wrinkled  at  the  base,  the  upper  man- 
dible black  on  its  ridge,  the  lower,  as  well  as  the 
edge  of  the  upper,  of  a  fine  yellow ;  front,  stripe 
over  the  eye,  neck  and  breast,  pale  ferruginous, 
marked  with  small  streaks  of  black,  which,  on 
the  lower  part  of  the  breast,  assume  the  form  of 
arrow-heads;  crown,  black,  the  plumage  slightly 
skirted  with  whitish ;   chin,  orbit  of  the  eye, 
whole  belly  and  vent,  pure  white ;  hind  head 
and  neck  above  ferruginous,  minutely  streaked 
with  black ;  back  and  scapulars,  black,  the  for- 
mer slightly  skirted  with  ferruginous,  the  latter 
with  white;  tertials,  black,  bordered  with  white; 
primaries,  plain  black ;    shaft   of  the  exterior 
quill,  snowy,  its  inner  vane  elegantly  pectinated 
with  white;  secondaries  pale. brown,  spotted  on 
their  outer  vanes  with  black,  and  tipped  with 


THE  GRASS  PLOVER.  119 

white ;  greater  coverts,  dusky,  edged  with  pale 
ferruginous,  and  spotted  with  black;  lesser  co- 
verts, pale  ferruginous,  each  feather  broadlj 
bordered  with  white,  within  which  is  a  concen- 
tric semi-circle  of  black ;  rump  and  tail  coverts, 
deep  brown  black,  slightly  bordered  with  white; 
tail,  tapering,  of  a  pale  brown  orange  color,  beau- 
tifully spotted  with  black,  the  middle  feathers 
centred  with  dusky ;  legs,  yellow,  tinged  with 
green,  the  outer  toe  joined  to  the  middle  by  a 
membrane;  lining  of  the  wings,  elegantly  barred 
with  black  and  white ;  iris  of  the  eye,  dark  or 
blue-back,  very  large.  The  male  and  female 
are  nearly  alike.  Weight  upwards  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  pound." 

This  plump  and  finely  marked  bird  appears 
in  the  fields  of  Montgomery  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, about  the  middle  of  April,  and  sometimes 
earlier.  They  are  then  in  good  order,  not  at  all 
shy  at  first,  but  after  having  been  shot  at,  be- 
come extremely  vigilant  and  difficult  to  ap- 
proach. For  several  weeks  they  frequent  the 
grass  fields  in  companies  of  never  more  than 
three  or  four,  and  early  in  May  separate  into 
pairs.  We  have  flushed  the  hen  from  her  eggs, 
deposited  in  a  grass  field,  without  any  appear- 
ance of  a  nest,  on  the  tenth  of  May.  In  the 


120  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

spring  and  during  the  summer,  they  have  a  pe- 
culiar, prolonged  scream,  which  they  emit  in 
the  air,  on  the  ground,  or  from  a  fence-rail,  on 
which  last  they  frequently  alight,  stretching 
their  slender  and  elegantly  formed  necks,  and 
opening  and  spreading  their  wings.  At  this 
season  of  the  year  their  sharp,  rolling  whistle  is 
comparatively  seldom  heard.  They  run  and  fly 
well,  but  their  suspicious  manner  of  lifting  their 
heads  readily  betrays  them  on  the  ground,  while 
their  strange  cry  often  leads  the  shooter  to  the 
field  which  they  inhabit.  Mr.  Jacob  Beck,  an 
old  sportsman,  who  had  killed  many  of  these 
birds  in  the  month  of  September,  was  totally 
unacquainted  with  their  common  note  on  the 
breeding  ground,  and  would  not  believe  them  to 
be  the  same  birds,  until  he  had  examined  several 
specimens,  shot  in  the  fields  of  Montgomery,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Perkiomen  Creek.  They 
feed  principally  upon  grass-hoppers  and  other 
insects.  We  once  killed  a  bird  early  in  the 
summer  which  had  two  large  gooseberries  in  its 
crop.  In  this  part  of  the  country  they  are  called 
regan-fegles,  or  rain-birds,  from  the  supposition 
that  their  scream  is  ominous  of  wet  weather. 
They  will  not  lie  to  the  dogs,  and  must  be  killed 
by  stratagem.  In  August  they  begin  to  leave 


THE  GRASS  PLOVER.  121 

the  uplands  with  their  young,  though  occasion- 
ally a  bird  or  two  may  be  found  in  an  old  stub- 
ble or  clover-field  in  a  remote  part  of  the  farm, 
as  late  as  the  middle  of  September.  They  are 
then  excessively  fat  and  very  delicate  eating. 
The  market  shooters  kill  many  of  them  in  Au- 
gust and  September,  on  the  meadows  bordering 
upon  the  river  Delaware  below  the  city,  resort- 
ing to  many  stratagems  to  cover  their  approach, 
such  as  wading  ditches,  or  secreting  themselves 
behind  cattle  and  fences,  while  their  compa- 
nions steal  on  the  birds  on  their  hands  and 
knees.  Unlike  the  golden  plover,  or  bull-head 
of  the  river  shooters,  this  species  is  never  found 
frequenting  ponds,  or  the  banks  of  ditches,  and 
is  never  seen  in  large  flocks  in  the  upland 
country,  unless  driven  inland  by  storms. 

The  grass  plover  migrates  in  small  bodies,  and 
almost  every  one  has  heard  its  whistle  sounding 
over  the  city,  apparently  from  among  the  stars, 
on  a  calm  summer  night.  Both  varieties  some- 
times sweep  over  the  lower  meadows  in  a  long 
extended  line,  flying  low  and  with  great  swift- 
ness. The  grass  plover  is  far  superior  in  flavor 
to  all  the  other  varieties,  the  golden  plover  per- 
haps, excepted,  and  is  much  sought  after  by 
epicures. 


122  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

We  believe  this  bird  is  not  found  in  Great 
Britain  or  upon  the  continent,  the  gray  plover  of 
Ireland,  which  bears  some  resemblance  to  it,  being 
essentially  different  in  its  markings  and  habits. 
It  is  said  to  be  common  in  some  parts  of  the  vast 
prairies  of  Missouri,  but  we  are  inclined  to  think, 
is  nowhere  very  abundant. 

The  kildeer  plover  has  been  with  us  all  winter. 
We  found  them  in  companies  of  ten  or  twelve 
feeding  in  the  rye-fields  and  low  meadows  after 
a  thaw.  They  were  very  fat  and  excellent  eating. 


THE  BULL-HEADED  OR  GOLDEN 
PLOVER. 


CHARADEIUS  PLUVIALIS. 


Description. — "  The  golden  plover  is  ten  inches 
and  a  half  long,  and  twenty-one  inches  in  extent; 
bill,  short,  of  a  dusky  slate  color ;  eye,  very  large, 
blue  black ;  nostrils,  placed  in  a  deep  furrow,  and 
half  covered  with  a  prominent  membrane ;  whole 
upper  parts,  black,  thickly  marked  with  roundish 
spots  of  various  tints  of  a  golden  yellow;  wing 
coverts,  and  hinder  parts  of  the  neck,  pale  brown, 
the  latter  streaked  with  yellowish;  front,  broad 
line  over  the  eye,  chin  and  sides,  of  the  same 
yellowish  white,  streaked  with  small,  pointed 
spots  of  brown  olive;  breast,  gray,  with  olive 
and  white ;  sides,  under  the  wings,  marked  thickly 
with  tran verse  bars  of  pale  olive ;  belly  and  vent, 
white ;  wing-quills,  black,  the  middle  shafts 
marked  \vith  white;  greater  coverts  black,  tipped 
with  white;  tail,  rounded,  black,  barred  with 
triangular  spots  of  golden  yellow ;  legs,  dark 
dusky  slate;  feet,  three-toed,  with  generally  the 


124  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

slight  rudiments  of  a  heel,  the  outer  toe  con- 
nected, as  far  as  the  first  joint,  with  the  middle 
one. 

"The  male  and  female  differ  very  little  in 
color." 

This  is  also  a  handsomely  marked  and  delicate 
bird  for  the  table.  It  is,  however,  never  seen  far 
inland  in  the  United  States,  but  chiefly  frequents 
the  sea-coast,  and  the  flat  shores  of  such  large 
rivers  as  flow  uninterruptedly  into  the  ocean. 
It  is  very  common  in  the  northern  parts  of 
Europe,  where  it  breeds  on  high  and  heathy 
mountains.  In  North  America  it  is  supposed 
to  rear  its  young  in  the  remote,  Artie  regions, 
where  the  ground  is  more  open  and  solitary,  and 
less  covered  with  forests.  Small  flocks  have, 
occasionally,  been  seen  for  a  day  or  two  in  Mont- 
gomery county,  whither  they  have  been  driven 
by  the  September  gales. 

They  are  killed  in  September  and  October 
along  the  Delaware  and  its  tributaries,  and 
underline  skilful  guidance  of  Westley  Stints- 
man,  the  renowned  paddler,  we  have  sometimes 
surprised  and  effected  considerable  execution 
among  flocks  seated  on  the  edges  of  ditches  and 
ponds  on  the  meadows  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Schuylkill.  The  mode  of  approaching  them  is 


THE  BULL-HEADED  OR  GOLDEN  PLOVER.        125 

by  silently  paddling  up  the  ditches  and  creeks 
in  a  small,  railing  skiff  when  the  tide  is  at  its 
height.  This  is  done  to  the  best  advantage  after 
an  overflow  of  the  meadowrs.  Like  the  grass 

o 

plover,  it  is  said  to  lay  four  eggs  of  a  pale,  olive 
color,  variegated  with  blackish  spots.  We  were 
informed  by  a  man  who  has  killed  great  numbers 
of  these  birds  for  the  market,  that  they  some- 
times become  so  sedgy  as  seriously  to  affect  their 
sale.  He  attributed  this  to  some  change  in  the 
character  of  the  marshes  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Salem,  Alloway's,  and  other  creeks,  where  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  shooting. 


RAIL  SHOOTING. 


RAIL— RALLUS    CAROLINUS—  COMMON   SORA  RAIL,   OR,   LITTLE 
AMERICAN  WATER  HEN. 


Description. — "The  rail  is  nine  inches  long, 
and  fourteen  in  extent;  bill,  yellow,  blackish 
towards  the  point ;  lores,  front,  crown,  chin,  and 
stripe  down  the  throat,  black ;  line  over  the  eye, 
cheeks  and  breast,  fine  light  ash;  sides  of  the 
crown,  neck,  and  upper  parts  generally,  olive 
brown,  streaked  with  black,  and  also  with  long 
lines  of  pure  white,  the  feathers  being  centred 
with  black  on  an  olive  ground,  and  edged  with 
white;  these  touches  of  white  are  shorter  near 
the  shoulder  of  the  wing,  lengthening  as  they  de- 
scend ;  wing  plain  olive  brown ;  tertials,  streaked 
with  black,  and  long  lines  of  white;  tail,  pointed, 
dusky  olive  brown,  centred  with  black,  the  four 
middle  feathers  bordered  for  half  their  length 
with  lines  of  white ;  lower  part  of  the  breast 
marked  with  semi-circular  lines  of  white,  on  a 
light  ash  ground;  belly,  white;  sides,  under  the 
wings,  deep  olive,  barred  with  black,  white,  and 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  127 

reddish,  buff;  vent,  brownish,  buff;  legs,  feet, 
and  naked  part  of  the  thighs,  yellowish  green; 
exterior  edge  of  the  wing,  white;  eyes,  reddish 
hazel. 

"  The  females,  and  young  of  the  first  season, 
have  the  throat  white,  the  breast  pale  brown, 
and  little  or  no  black  on  the  head.  The  males 
may  always  be  distinguished  by  their  ashy  blue 
breasts  and  black  throats." 

During  the  summer  months,  the  flat  shores  of 
the  Delaware,  in  winter  so  bleak  and  devoid  of 
interest,  present  to  the  stranger's  gaze  a  spectacle 
of  unwonted  beauty.  Standing  upon  the  long 
embankment  which  keeps  off  the  tides  from  the 
range  of  meadows  behind  him,  he  sees  a  vast, 
waving  belt  or  border  of  bright,  luxuriant  green, 
extending  from  the  base  of  the  bank  to  the  low- 
water  mark,  and  stretching  along  the  course  of 
the  river,  in  rich,  dense  array,  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach.  When  the  tall  reeds  which  compose 
this  magnificent  fringe,  have  attained  their  full 
height,  their  vivid  verdue  and  slender  feathery 
tops,  over  and  among  which  countless  flocks  of 
birds  are  continually  rising  and  settling,  impart 
an  almost  oriental  character  to  these  alluvial 
marshes.  The  effect  is  heightened  by  the  com- 
pactness with  which  the  wild  plants  grow,  the 


128  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

stifling  heat  which  is  endured  among  them  on 
an  August  or  September  noon,  and  the  various 
descriptions  of  animal  life,  with  which,  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  the  miniature  forest  abounds. 
The  waters  alternately  leave  the  flats  bare, 
and  cover  them  to  the  depth  of  four  or  five  feet; 
the  reeds  rise  from  the  ooze  by  erect  stems, 
stout  and  strong  below,  and  tapering  away  to 
their  tops  which  bend  and  bow  with  every  pass- 
ing breeze  :  upon  the  upper  branches  of  these 
panicled  tops,  the  nutritious  seeds  which  are  the 
bread  of  the  wild  birds  of  the  air,  are  produced  ; 
yellow  blossoms  adorn  the  lower  ones ;  long, 
sword-like  leaves  flaunt  from  the  stems,  and 
drooping  towards  the  water  in  the  sultry  silence 
of  noon,  seem,  at  every  cool  splash,  to  woo  the 
embraces  of  the  flood,  or  by  their  wild  wavings 
and  rustlings  in  the  wind,  when  the  tide  is 
down,  contribute  not  a  little  to  the  poetry  of  the 
scene.  The  reeds  also  grow  abundantly  upon 
the  shore  of  all  the  tributaries  of  the  Delaware, 
upon  its  bars  and  low,  marshy  islands,  and  along 
the  ditches  which  intersect  the  meadows  by  the 
river-side.  Cattle  are  fond  of  them,  and  may  be 
daily  seen  straggling  across  the  bank,  and  wad- 
ing upon  the  edge  of  the  flats,  to  browse  upon 
them  on  the  flood.  Many  varieties  of  winged 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  129 

insects  sport  among  the  leaves  of  the  reeds; 
minks  and  musk-rats  prowl  among  the  interlac- 
ing roots  at  low  water ;  the  large,  golden-eyed 
frog  and  the  snapper  crawl  upon  the  ooze  ;  fish 
swarm  among  the  stalks  on  the  flood  ;  the  soli- 
tary bittern  roosts  all  day  upon  the  higher  por- 
tions of  the  flat;  the  marsh-wren  binds  its 
curious  nest  to  the  stalks,  far  above  the  dash 
of  the  stormiest  tides  ;  the  restless  swallow  darts 
to  and  fro  in  pursuit  of  gnats  and  flies,  or  pauses 
to  perch  on  the  fragile  sprays  of  the  panicle, 
which  its  weight  bows  in  the  gale ;  woodcock 
and  snipe  are  found  in  "  the  cripples"  and  upon 
"  the  drifts ;"  red-winged  black-birds,  rice-bunt- 
ings, teal,  mallard  and  other  marsh  ducks,  feed 
upon  the  farinaceous  seeds  ;  and  here,  above 
all,  millions  of  the  Carolina  rail,  or  little 
American  water  hen,  for  ^several  weeks  find 
a  rich  repast,  on  their  annual  migration  to  the 
south. 

The  mystery  which  once  hung  over  the 
migratory  movements  of  the  whole  genus,  to 
which  the  bird  under  consideration  belongs,  has 
long  been  dispelled  by  the  researches  of  the 
ornithologist,  and  now  only  exists  in  the  minds 
of  those  who,  from  want  of  inclination  or  capa- 
city, are  cut  off  from  the  use  of  books. 


130  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Like  Wilson's  snipe,  a  few  of  these  birds 
breed  in  the  Middle  States.  Few  persons,  in- 
deed, have  been  fortunate  enough  to  see  the 
nest  of  the  Carolina  rail.  Mr.  Krider,  who  for 
several  years  has  paid  considerable  attention  to 
the  study  of  ornithology,  has,  however,  he 
thinks,  discovered  it  more  than  once,  built  in  a 
bunch  of  coarse  grass  on  the  edge  of  the  high 
marshes.  In  looking  over  his  rough  notes,  we 
find  that  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-five,  he  found  a  nest  on  the  Broad  Marsh 
with  the  hen  sitting  upon  it,  cunningly  con- 
cealed from  view  by  the  top  of  a  tuft  of  grass, 
which  was  bent  down  and  fastened  to  the  nest. 
She  left  her  eggs  with  evident  reluctance,  steal- 
ing away  as  it  were,  step  by  step,  and  constantly 
looking  back  to  watch  the  intruder's  intentions. 
We,  ourselves,  remember  to  have  seen,  some 
years  ago,  at  the  house  of  a  medical  gentleman 
of  Montgomery  county,  Pennsylvania,  a  pre- 
pared specimen  of  the  Rallus  Carolinus,  with 
her  brood  beside  her,  which  the  doctor  assured  us 
had  been  caught  in  his  meadow  on  the  previous 
June.  We  have  also  killed  rail  in  the  same 
month  on  a  farm  a  few  miles  distant  from  the 
former  place.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that 
the  main  body  move  on  far  to  the  north,  return- 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  131 

ing  with  their  young  late  in  the  summer,  when 
on  a  calm,  clear  night,  their  cry  may  be  dis- 
tinctly heard  in  the  air,  as  they  pass  over  the 
city  to  the  marshes.  Dennis  Welsh,  who  for 
many  years  has  occupied  the  situation  of  a 
watchman  in  one  of  the  lower  districts,  and  is 
well  known  to  the  sporting  world  as  the  oldest 
and  perhaps  the  best  pusher  on  the  river,  has 
informed  us  that,  year  after  year,  he  has  never 
failed  to  distinguish  their  voices  sounding  over 
his  head,  while  he  was  silently  traversing  his 
beat  at  the  dead  hour  of  night.  As  these  little 
visitors  have  long  been  a  source  of  pleasure  and 
profit  to  Dennis,  who  still  prides  himself  on 
never  having  missed  a  tide,  when  there  was 
water  enough  on  the  marsh  to  work  his  batteau, 
there  is  something  curious  in  the  idea  of  the 
veteran  pusher  mutely  listening,  night  after 
night,  on  his  rounds  for  the  decisive  evidences 
of  their  arrival,  as  if  while  fulfilling  his  functions 
as  guardian  of  the  public  rest,  he  was  also,  in 
some  sense,  acting  as  watchman  to  his  own 
private  interests  in  the  fields  of  air.  Others, 
while  fishing  for  eels  at  night  on  the  outer  edge 
of  the  flats,  have  repeatedly  been  startled  by 
hearing  rail  alight  singly  in  the  water  close  to 
them,  and  instantly  swim  in  among  the  reeds. 


132  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Remaining  with  us  several  weeks,  and  afford- 
ing much  sport  at  a  season  of  the  year  when 
there  is  little  else  to  shoot,  they  then  depart  for 
the  south  even  more  suddenly  than  they  came, 
and  the  pushing-pole  and  the  rail-box  is  laid  by 
until  the  succeeding  year. 

Their  course  through  the  Southern  States 
may  be  traced  in  the  same  manner  as  their 
advance  to  the  north  in  the  spring,  their  appear- 
ance in  the  different  degrees  of  latitude  occurring 
at  regular  intervals,  from  Hudson's  bay  to  the 
shores  of  the  great  gulf.  The  idea  is  even  en- 
tertained that  they  extend  their  flight  to  the 
south,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  continent.  In 
regard  to  their  apparent  feebleness  of  wing,  it 
has  been  long  observed,  that  although  from  the 
development  of  their  legs  and  feet,  and  the  pecu- 
liar compressed  shape  of  their  bodies,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  they  are  especially  formed  for  running 
in  thick  coverts,  they  have  nevertheless  been 
observed  during  the  morning  and  evening  twi- 
light, and  in  rough,  windy  weather,  to  fly  entirely 
clear  of  cover  with  great  freedom  and  swiftness. 
Hardly  an  old  rail  shooter  but  has  seen  them 
occasionally  cross  wide  streams  like  the  Dela- 
ware, when  hard  pushed  by  the  boats.  Late  in 
the  season,  when  the  finer  variety  of  the  reed 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  133 

has  been  entirely  beaten  down  by  storms,  we 
have  flushed  rail  which  have  flown  away  from 
the  skiff  in  zig-zag  lines,  like  snipe.  When  the 
reeds  are  in  this  condition,  the  birds  may  be 
readily  seen  running  and  feeding  on  either  side 
of  the  boat,  or  arranging  their  plumage  as  quietly 
as  pigeons  on  a  roof.  We  have  often  watched 
their  motions  for  ten  minutes  at  a  time,  to  the 
great  discontent  of  the  pusher,  who,  like  the  rest 
of  his  class,  devoutly  believed  in  the  proverb, 
that  "a  bird  in  the  boat  was  worth  two  in  the 
reeds."  On  one  occasion  we  saw  a  gun  which 
had  been  inadvertently  loaded  with  powder  and 
wad  only,  discharged  at  a  rail  engaged  in  plum- 
ing itself;  the  bird  did  not  even  discontinue 
the  business  of  the  toilet,  and  was  killed  by  the 
second  barrel  without  moving  from  its  position. 

In  regard  to  the  rail's  being  occasionally  sub- 
ject to  epileptic  fits,  superinduced  by  paroxysms 
of  rage  or  fear,  no  satisfactory  case  of  the  kind 
has  ever  come  under  the  immediate  notice  of  the 
author  or  his  editor.  We  were,  however,  shown 
a  bird  during  the  past  season,  which  was  said  to 
have  been  shot  at  and  apparently  killed,  but 
afterwards  revived  and  was  found  to  be  wholly 
uninjured.  It  lived  in  good  health  for  several 
weeks.  One  of  the  persons  in  the  boat  which 


134  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

picked  up  this  bird,  was  an  old  friend  of  the 
editor's,  and  we  are  inclined  to  place  implicit 
faith  in  his  report.  Dennis  Welsh  before  no- 
ticed, also  remembers  two  or  three  cases  of  the 
same  nature  in  the  course  of  thirty  years'  expe- 
rience in  rail  shooting.  In  one  instance,  the  first 
bird  which  he  flushed  on  the  tide,  fell  dead  at 
the  simple  report  of  the  cap,  the  gun  missing  fire, 
which  incident  so  affected  the  shooter,  that,-  after 
examining  the  bird,  he  directed  Dennis  to  put 
back  for  the  ferry,  declaring  that  he  would  shoot 
no  more.  There  was  a  high  tide  rising  on  the 
marshes,  and  Welsh,  who  always  enters  deeply 
into  the  sport,  ventured  to  expostulate;  the  gen- 
tleman, however,  was  firm  in  his  determination 
never  to  kill  another  rail,  and  after  deliberately 
destroying  his  box  with  a  large  stone,  called  for 
his  carriage  and  departed. 

"  From  what  I  could  hear,"  said  the  pusher, 
"I  believe  he  has  never  been  out  since."  An- 
other sage  old  pusher  and  duck  paddler,  who 
had  also  seen  rail  "play  the  'possum,"  or  kick 
the  bucket  outright  in  this  mysterious  way, 
gravely  advanced  the  opinion,  that  although 
these  birds  had  not  been  touched  by  the  charges 
aimed  at  their  bodies,  they  had  nevertheless 
died,  indirectly,  from  the  effects  of  lead  in  the 


RAlt  SHOOTING.  135 

system,  having  been  previously  afflicted  with 
a  species  of  disorder,  which  the  learned  faculty 
call  colica  pictonum,  produced  by  indulging  in 
morbid  appetite  for  the  pellets  of  shot,  which 
are  so  thickly  strewn  on  the  marshes.  This, 
the  pusher  thought,  so  debilitated  their  consti- 
tutions, that  the  mere  report  of  villainous  salt- 
petre, so  annoying  to  Hotspur's  human  popin- 
jay, was  too  much  for  them. 

"The  wital  forces,"  said  he,  " couldn't  stand 
it  no  how;  hence  they  eyther  tuk  fits  straight, 
or  else  straightened  out  in  arnest." 

That  shot  are  occasionally  found  in  the  diges- 
tive organs  of  water-fowl,  is  a  fact  known  to 
many  sportsmen ;  it  is  true,  also,  that  paralysis 
sometimes  supercedes  lead  colic;  these  two 
facts  being  undisputed,  we  leave  old  E.'s  theory 
to  the  attention  of  the  curious  without  further 
comment.  There  is  really  nothing  extraordi- 
nary in  the  idea,  that  intense  apprehension 
should  produce  insensibility  and  even  death,  in 
a  creature  of  such  delicate  organization  as  a  rail, 
and  we  are  strongly  inclined  to  think  that  Mr. 
Orde — for  whom  we  have  great  respect  as  the 
friend  and  companion  of  WiiSon — mistook  this 
feeling  in  the  cases  which  he  adduced,  for  that 
of  rage.  We  have  also  full  faith  in  the  state- 


136  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

ment  of  our  friend,  and  in  the  experience  of 
Dennis  Welsh.  As  for  the  other  man's  theory, 
that  carries  conviction  off  its  feet ;  that  speaks 
for  itself. 

The  rail  is  said  to  be  a  ventriloquist;  very 
respectable  authority  is  also  adduced  for  that 
assertion,  and,  with  a  simple  qualification,  we 
are  disposed  to  believe  it  is  a  fact. 

The  lordly  lion  of  the  desert — the  banded  fox 
of  "the  land  of  ice  and  snow" — the  katydids 
which  sing  so  merrily  in  the  forest;  the  little 
cricket  which  chirps  away  at  home  in  the 
porch,  but  cunningly  creeps  in  towards  the 
hearth  when  the  nights  grow  chill — each  and 
all  possess,  in  some  degree,  the  power  of  de- 
ceiving the  ear.  We  have  shown  in  a  former 
page  how  a  dog  became  a  somnambulist,  and 
are  now  ready  to  endorse  the  assertion,  that  the 
whole  family  of  the  rails  are — travelling  ventrilo- 
quists. One  thing  is  certain,  if  they  are  capable 
of  counterfeiting  death  so  cleverly,  and  of  throw- 
ing their  voices  into  any  corner  they  please, 
they  are  accomplished  birds,  and  it  will  not 
do  to  stigmatise  them  "ninny hammers"  and 
"simpletons"  any  longer;  we  must  hasten  to 
amend  that.  There  is  more  point,  as  well  as 
magnanimity,  in  bestowing  upon  them  the 


EAIL  SHOOTING.  137 

familiar  and  somewhat  endearing  epithets  of 
''timid  little  water-fowl,"  "shy  birds,"  as  we 
shall  see  when  we  get  further  on,  when  rail  are 
found  baffling  the  bewildered  pusher,  by  hiding 
under  the  submerged  reeds,  to  escape  being 
riddled  by  a  charge  of  No.  8,  or  diving  like 
the  devil  or  a  bay  black-head,  to  avoid  being 
knocked  on  the  head. 

It  would  be  well,  also,  to  remember  that  two 
different  branches  of  the  family  have  been 
raised  to  royal  dignity ;  the  rattus  elegans 
being  styled  the  king-rail  in  America,  while  the 
rallus  crex,  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
people  of  Old  England,  savants  excepted,  was 
long  ago  crowned  king  of  the  tetrao  coturnix, 
the  wandering  and  warlike  quail. 

Rail  often  leave  the  marshes  and  come  upon 
the  dry  meadows,  seldom  remaining  there  longer 
than  an  hour  or  two,  and  never  wandering  far 
from  their  favorite  haunts.  While  crossing  a 
hard,  dry  meadow,  from  one  marsh  to  another, 
on  the  island  of  Spesutia,  in  October  last,  we 
came  upon  numbers  of  rail  which  refused  to  lie 
for  the  dogs,  but  rose  from  among  the  thin  grass 
and  flew  swiftly  off  to  the  rushes,  about  two 
hundred  yards  distant.  When  shot  in  the 
above  situations,  their  crops  have  invariably 


138  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

been  found  to  contain  minute  fragments  of 
stone. 

The  disposition  of  the  rail  is  strongly  marked 
by  petulance  and  curiosity.  Although  by  no 
means  manifesting  the  restless  and  spirit-like 
energy  which  distinguishes  the  snipe,  they  are 
far  from  being  the  stupid  birds  which  it  has 
pleased  some  writers,  in  their  infinite  wisdom, 
to  represent  them.  Like  woodcock,  they  often 
display  ingenuity  enough  to  baffle  the  sports- 
man, and  were  it  not  for  the  advantage  of  the 
tides,  we  should  have  little  or  no  diversion  to 
boast  of  in  rail  shooting.  They  are  so  inces- 
santly harassed  during  their  stay  among  us, 
and  keep  so  closely  to  their  coverts  at  low- 
water,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  acquire 
any  intimate  acquaintance  with  their  habits. 
From  what  has  been  observed  of  their  domestic 
relations,  we  have  no  doubt  that  in  their  reedy 
homes,  in  warmer  climes  afar,  they  are  sociabJe 
and  frolicsome  birds. 

When  a  person,  totally  unacquainted  with  the 
habits  of  rail,  is  brought  in  a  light  skiff  to  the 
very  edge  of  the  marshes,  and  informed  that 
myriads  of  the  interesting  birds  which  have  so 
long  attracted  the  attention  of  the  sportsman  and 
the  naturalist,  are  at  that  moment  sleeping,  feed- 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  139 

ing,  pluming,  warring,  idling  or  making  love  in 
the  reeds  before  him,  seeing  nothing  of  these, 
and  hearing  only  the  chuck  of  the  black-bird,  and 
musical  cliinU  of  the  rice-bunting,  he  naturally 
asks  for  ocular  proofs  of  the  assertion,  unwilling 
to  believe, 

"  Without  the  sensible  and  true  aA'Ouch 
Of  his  own  eyes." 

Ridiculing  the  idea  of  his  inability  to  put  them 
up,  if  there,  perhaps  he  demands  to  be  landed 
forthwith,  and,  gun  in  hand,  eagerly  pushes  his 
way  among  the  reeds,  while  his  more  experi- 
enced companion,  chuckling  to  himself,  quietly 
lies  on  his  oars  to  await  his  return.  The  first 
soon  looses  his  way  in  the  dense,  sultry  covert, 
and  after  some  shouting  and  calling,  at  last 
makes  his  appearance  again  in  a  very  sorry 
plight,  covered  with  marsh-mud,  out  of  breath, 
and  more  disposed  than  ever  to  adhere  to  his 
heresy  ;  declaring  that  while  the  reeds  seemed 
to  be  alive  with  other  birds,  he  had  been  unable, 
after  the  sharpest  scrutiny,  to  discover  even  the 
tail-feather  of  a  single  rail.  Something  he  did 
see  once  running  swiftly  between  the  reeds ; 
but  it  vanished  too  quickly  for  him  to  say 
whether  it  was  a  bird,  or  a  water-rat.  After  en- 
joying the  joke,  his  friend  ro\vs  the  skiff  up  one 


140  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

of  the  guts  of  the  marsh,  and  concealing  it  among 
the  reeds,  directs  the  other  to  draw  and  reduce 
his  charges.  This  being  done,  after  bidding 
him  fix  his  eyes  on  a  particular  spot  where  the 
tide  is  leaving  the  mud  bare,  he  knocks  quickly 
with  his  brass  rowlocks  on  the  gunwale  of  the 
boat.  A  sharp,  peculiar  cry,  caught  up  and  re- 
peated from  a  hundred  throats,  is  immediately 
heard,  a  remarkably  neat,  trim  looking  bird  in 
a  sort  of  quaker  motley,  suddenly  runs  out  upon 
the  mud,  jutting  up  its  tail  and  erecting  its  head 
with  a  curious  air,  as  if  to  inquire  what  is 
wanted; — the  gun  is  levelled — the  trigger  touched, 
and  the  stranger  has  "mudded"  his  first  rail. 
He  springs  up  in  his  ambush  in  hot  haste  to 
secure  the  prize,  but  his  companion,  repeating 
his  commands  to  keep  quiet,  knocks  again.  The 
small  hubbub,  consisting  of  many  and  rapid  re- 
iterations of  the  monosyllable  crek,  again  arises ; 
a  second  bird  appears  on  the  same  spot,  and 
immediately  shares  the  fate  of  the  first. 

"  Now,"  says  the  operator,  who  it  appears 
from  the  pole  projecting  over  the  stern  and  the 
square  tin  box,  carefully  stowed  away  in  the 
bow,  is  to  initiate  his  friend  still  deeper  in  the 
mysteries  of  rail  shooting,  before  the  day  is 
spent,  "  now  re-load,  and  when  another  bird 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  141 

comes  out,  do  not  shoot  at  him  at  first  sight, 
reserve  your  fire  for  a  moment." 

"  And  wherefore  ?" 

"  You  will  see,"  is  the  reply. 

The  experiment  is  now  repeated  with  similar 
results,  except  that  when  the  third  rail  appears, 
after  looking  inquisitively  round,  it  stoops  to 
examine  its  prostrate  companions,  and  with  that 
strange  misapprehension  of  death  so  often  mani- 
fested by  the  brute  creation,  begins  to  make  war 
upon  the  inanimate  bodies,  striking  with  bill 
and  heels  after  the  manner  of  a  game-cock. 
Perhaps  two  or  three  come  out  upon  the 
mud  at  the  same  moment ;  one  struts  around  the 
dead  birds  ;  another  offers  amatory  caresses  ;  or 
all  join  in  a  sort  of  mimic  battle  royal,  like  so 
many  pullets  in  a  barn-yard.  They  may  be  all 
killed  at  a  single  discharge,  but  if  unmolested 
the  contest  is  speedily  ended  by  one  of  the  party 
whimsically  running  back  to  cover  in  a  circuit, 
when  the  rest  immediately  follow. 

As  the  tide  continues  to  recede,  the  rail  follow 
for  the  purpose  of  gleaning  up  the  seeds  and 
small  insects  which  are  left  behind,  and  many 
birds  are  killed,  in  the  way  described,  by  per- 
sons who  station  their  boats  in  the  guts,  just 
after  high  water.  At  low  water  not  a  single  rail 


142  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES 

is  to  be  seen ;  but  when  the  next  tide  is  risen 
sufficiently  for  the  boats  to  get  upon  the  flats, 
then  commences  a  scene  of  life  and  emulation — 
of  incessant  loading  and  firing — of  rapid  gliding 
hither  and  thither  among  the  reeds,  which,  if 
ten  or  fifteen  parties  are  engaged  on  the  same 
marshes,  requires  to  be  seen,  to  be  fully  under- 
stood. Let  us  suppose  that  the  tide,  which  is 
rising  fast,  with  a  stiff  breeze  from  the  south-east, 
is  as  favorable  as  could  be  wished,  and  that  the 
moment  has  arrived  when  the  pushers,  laying 
aside  their  oars,  prepare  for  business,  while  the 
sportsmen  opening  their  rail-boxes  and  charging 
their  guns,  station  themselves  in  a  standing  posi- 
tion to  shoot.  The  post  of  the  pusher  is  in  the 
stern ;  that  of  the  shooter  a  little  abaft  the  bow. 
Each  pusher  is  stripped  to  his  shirt  and  panta- 
loons, and  holds  in  his  sinewy  hands  a  pine  pole 
fifteen  feet  long,  and  weighing  about  four  pounds. 
It  is  his  arduous  task  to  flush  and  retrieve  the 
game ;  the  sportsman  has  nothing  to  do  but  to 
load  and  shoot.  A  square  tin  box,  made  as  small 
as  is  convenient,  and  containing  in  its  several 
apartments  ammunition,  percussion  caps  and  wad- 
ding, lies  at  the  feet  of  the  last.  These  boxes 
are  now  both  neatly  and  strongly  made;  that 
sold  by  Mr.  Krider  during  the  past  season  was 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  143 

by  far  the  best  pattern  of  the  kind  we  have  seen. 
Many  rail  shooters  prefer  using  shot  cartridges 
on  account  of  the  fraction  of  time  saved  in  load- 
ing ;  others — and  we  are  of  the  same  opinion, 
ourselves — suppose  that  they  can  kill  more  birds 
on  a  tide  with  loose  shot,  and  a  few,  it  is  said, 
have  been  hair-brained  enough  to  shoot  shot  car- 
tridges, made  small  for  the  bore  of  the  gun,  with 
the  charge  of  powder  filled  in.  These  are  set 
up  in  the  box  before  them,  the  end  of  the  pow- 
der charge  being  left  open,  and  they  drop  them 
down  the  barrels,  assisting  their  descent  by  a 
stroke  of  the  butt  on  the  footboard  of  the  boat, 
when  the  gun  becomes  foul :  the  use  of  a  load- 
ing-rod is  thus  dispensed  with  altogether,  and 
an  additional  fraction  of  time  saved,  which,  as 
they  assert,  always  tells  when  rail  are  thick  on 
a  fly  on  a  full  tide.  Many  wild  stories  are  afloat 
respecting  the  wonderful  facilities  for  rapid  exe- 
cution afforded  by  these  cartridges;  but  as  nei- 
ther the  editor  nor  the  author  have  been  tempted 
to  try  them,  we,  of  course,  cannot  vouch  for 
their  truth.  We  still  adhere  to  our  loading-rods, 
which  are  made  several  inches  longer  than  the 
barrels  to  admit  the  full  grasp  of  the  hand,  and 
sufficiently  stout  to  be  driven  home  at  a  single 
effort.  A  common  ram-rod  is  inadmissible  into 


144  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

this  kind  of  shooting,  in  which  dexterity  and 
despatch  in  loading  are  necessary  to  the  full  en- 
joyment of  the  sport. 

As  the  different  boats  enter  the  reeds  at  vari- 
ous favorable  points,  we  will  first  notice  that  fat, 
angry  looking  gentleman  in  the  blue  skiff,  with 
the  one-eyed,  quizzical  genius  at  the  stern.  The 
fat  gentleman  is  a  tyro,  as  clumsy  as  a  cow  in  the 
boat,  and  a  very  indifferent  shot.  He  is  more- 
over exceedingly  irascible  and  seems  to  suffer 
much  in  his  unusual  position,  while  the  blinking 
scamp  behind  him  is  as  cool  as  a  snow-ball. 
There  has  already  been  some  sparring  between 
them  respecting  the 'price  of  the  tide,  and  the 
pusher,  who  is  not  without  his  slice  of  humor, 
has  made  up  his  mind  to  victimize  his  quondam 
employer.  This  is  easy  enough  when  one  is  in 
his  element,  and  the  other  out  of  it,  and  woe  to 
that  fat  gentleman  who  has  been  tempted,  in  an 
evil  hour,  to  leave  trade  and  come  out  for  sport ; 
for  the  other,  incensed  at  his  attempt  to  jew  him 
down,  is  determined  to  make  sport  of  him. 

The  skiff  glides  smoothly  in  among  the  reeds, 
the  pusher  on  the  qui  vive  for  mischief,  while  the 
shooter  maintaining  his  equilibrium  as  well  as 
he  can,  commends  himself  to  his  dignity  and 
keeps  a  sharp  look  out. 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  145 

"  Now,"  says  the  roguish  pusher,  gently  lift- 
ing and  inserting  his  pole  into  the  mud  as  the 
skiff  shoots  into  a  thick  growth  of  reeds,  "  Now, 
sir,  left  leg  forward — right  leg  behind — stand 
steady — shoot  quick — load  fast,  and  leave  -the 
rest  to  me.  Mark  !" 

"Bang!  bang!" 

A  very  palpable  miss  each  time,  and  the  bird 
which  has  risen  directly  in  front  within  a  few 
feet  of  the  boat,  nutters  slowly  over  the  tops  of 
the  reeds,  with  its  legs  hanging  loosely  down, 
and  almost  instantly  drops  out  of  sight  again, 
while  the  unfortunate  marksman,  thrown  vio- 
lently from  his  centre  of  gravity  by  a  sudden 
treacherous  movement  of  the  skiff,  stumbles  for- 
ward over  his  rail  box,  and  catching  at  the  gun- 
wale, pitches  head  foremost,  gun  and  all,  over 
the  bow. 

"  Why  bless  my  soul !"  exclaims  the  villainous 
author  of  the  catastrophe,  with  a  great  show  of 
surprise,  "  I  never  seed  the  likes.  Did  you  do 
that  on  purpose,  sir  ?  You're  the  very  quickest 
gentleman  out  of  a  boat,  I  ever  pushed.  You 
hit  that  rail  too:  I  seed  him  drop  his  legs." 

"  Go  to  the  devil!"  exclaims  the  fat  gentleman, 
wiping  his  face  and  clambering  back  into  the 
boat  in  high  wrath. 


146  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

"  Load  up,  sir,  load  up,"  answers  the  fellow 
coolly  ;  "  there  is  no  time  to  tell  fortunes  now. 
Look,  sir,  yonder  comes  Dennis  Welsh  and  Bill 
Starn  pushing  side  by  side." 

I'D n  Bill  Starn!"  mutters  the  other, 

wiping  off  his  gunlocks  with  a  white  handker- 
chief. 

"  It's  no  use,  sir,  a  breakwater  wouldn't  stop 
the  nigger.  See  how  he  ploughs  through  the 
reeds  like  a  steamboat.  Ready,  sir?" 

"  No,  I  ain't,  you  one-eyed  scoundrel,"  growls 
the  tyro,  fumbling  at  the  lids  of  his  box  which 
have  been  jammed  into  the  partition  by  his  fall. 

"  Well,  sir,  no  hurry ;  its  my  place  to  wait 
upon  you;  if  you've  no  pertikler  rejection,  I'll 
tell  you  a  story  as  how  I  lost  my  eye  while 
you're  cleaning  off  the  mash  mud." 

"  You're  an  impudent  son  of  a ,"  exclaims 

the  exasperated  shooter,  entirely  losing  sight  of 
his  breeding. 

"Pshaw,  sir,"  replies  the  fellow,  leaning  on 
his  pole  as  coolly  as  before,  "  it's  despurit  hard 
work  for  two  dogs  in  one  collar  to  pull  different 
ways.  Besides  the  story'll  make  you  laugh  in 
spite  of  yourself,  and  you'll  be  sartin  to  kill  the 
next  bird.  Once  upon  a  time — " 

"  I  tell  you  what,"  interrupts  the  fat  gentle- 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  147 

man,  with  savage  deliberation,  "  if  you  tell  that 
story,  I'll  see  you  hanged  before  I  pay  you  a 
copper,  sport  or  no  sport." 

"  Sir,"  says  the  pusher  in  turn,  "  I  hope  you 
won't  be  offinded,  but  I  must  tell  you  this  much 
of  it — I  wrore  my  eye  out  as  the  cat  did  her's, 
watching  the  mice." 

"Now,"  retorts  the  other,  who  has  at  length 
managed  to  re-charge  his  piece,  "  now  mind  you, 
fellow,  if  you  give  me — " 

"  Hush !"  exclaims  the  pusher,  pointing  and 
staring  in  his  energetic  way  at  some  object  on 
his  right  hand ;  "  shoot,  sir,  shoot." 

The  fat  gentleman  starts,  and  catching  a 
glimpse  of  something  swimming  among  the 
reeds,  levels  his  gun  and  fires  both  barrels. 

"  Hurrah !"  shouts  the  pusher,  frantically  be- 
taking himself  to  his  pole,  "  you've  pinked  him — 
you've  settled  his  hash — you've  mortalized  your- 
self on  this  mash." 

"What is  it?"  demands  the  shooter  in  a  state 
of  great  excitement. 

"  What  is  it !"  repeats  the  pusher,  with  a 
glorious  assumption  of  scorn,  as  he  brings  the 
stern  of  the  skiff  to  the  spot,  and  carefully  lifts 
up  the  object  by  the  tail;  "you  isn't  much 
lamed  in  Natarel  Histery,  is  you,  sir?" 


148  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

"  Why,  no,  not  particularly,"  answers  the 
worthy  cit,  flushing  still  more. 

"  I  thought  not,"  says  the  pusher,  shaking  his 
head  and  blinking  awfully  at  the  animal  in  his 
hand,  "well  then,  sir,  I  has  to  inform  you  that 
you  has  done  what  no  other  man  has  parformed 
in  this  here  river  for  fifty  years — you  has  killed 
a  young  otter." 

"  No !"  exclaims  the  other,  staring  hard  in  his 
turn  at  the  rogue's  face,  who  stands  the  inquir- 
ing gaze  like  a  monument. 

"  Fact,  sir,  and  now  whether  you  pays  me  for 
this  here  tide's  shove  or  no,  you're  sartin  to 
figure  in  the  Daily  Ledger,  the  Sun,  and  all  the 
weeklies,  not  to  speak  of  the  New  York 
Spurrit." 

"  But  is  this  really  an  otter,  my  good  fellow?" 
says  the  shooter. 

"  Sartainly  it  be ;  I  seed  many  a  one  in  the 
far  west."  (The  mendacious  rascal  had  proba- 
bly never  been  west  of  the  Schuylkill  in  his  life.) 
"Has  you  any  acquaintance  among  the  horno- 
thology  chaps,  sir?"  Does  you  know  any  of  the 
great  skin-stufTers?" 

"  Why,  no,  I  can't  say  that  I  do,"  answered 
the  fat  gentleman,  regaining  his  complacency 
fast. 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  149 

"  It'll  cost  you  ten  dollars,  at  least,  treating 
the  house,  when  we  come  in ;  but  in  course  you 
won't  mind  that,"  says  the  pusher. 

"  The  devil !"  exclaims  the  shooter. 

"  I'll  go  a  quart  of  Davy  Hunter's  best  on  it, 
myself.  Lay  it  up  in  the  bow,  sir,  where  it'll 
have  a  chance  to  dry.  If  old  Mr.  Peale  were 
alive  now,  he'd  ring  down  dollars  for  that  ere 
spissimin." 

"  I'll  tell  you  what,  my  man,"  says  the  gentle- 
man, "  d 11  the  birds !  I  dare  say  that  I 

shouldn't  kill  many — just  put  me  quietly  ashore 
at  the  ferry,  and  say  nothing  of  this  to  no 
one  ;  I'll  pay  you  your  charge,  but,  mind  ye, 
do  you  keep  mum  until  I'm  on  my  way  to  the 
city." 

"  But  they'll  never  believe  me,  sir;  they'se  a 
mighty  suspicious  set  at  that  'ere  ferry :  they'll 
swear  I'm  a  bigger  liar  than  Tom  Pepper,"  says 
the  pusher. 

"  But  you  forget  the  papers,"  says  the  fat 
gentleman,  chuckling. 

"  Right,  sir,  my  name  is  Shoemaker  ;  I  should 
like  to  go  in  with  you,  if  you've  no  express 
rejection.  I'm  not  'zactly  a  candydate  for  fame, 
but  seeing  my  name  in  print,  may  put  an  extra 
job  in  my  way." 
10 


130  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

''  We'll  see — we'll  see,"  says  the  gentleman 
briskly  ;  "  put  her  head  about." 

The  pusher  obeys  with  seeming  reluctance, 
and  upon  arriving  at  the  ferry,  receives  his  hire 
and  a  shilling  extra  to  treat  himself,  while  the 
fat  gentleman,  completely  hocus-pocussed,  wraps 
the  mine  carefully  up  in  his  handkerchief,  and 
calling  for  his  carriage,  hurries  away  with  his 
prize. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  marsh;  observe  that 
tall,  athletic  negro  who  is  pushing  the  gentleman 
in  the  green  skiff;  see  how  he  plies  his  pole  like 
a  plaything,  forcing  the  boat  ahead  with  a' 
velocity  which  bears  down  every  thing  before 
him,  while  so  artistically  is  she  worked,  that 
when  a  bird  rises  her  motion  is  as  steady  as  that 
of  a  swimming  swan.  His  white  competitor  in 
the  batteau  is  our  old  acquaintance  Dennis 
Welsh ;  mark  how  easily  and  smoothly  he  makes 
his  way  among  the  reeds,  his  man  standing 
steadily  as  a  statue.  It  is  evident  from  the  style 
which  these  two  boats  are  propelled,  and  in 
which  the  shooters  knock  down  the  game,  that 
the  men  are  all  crack  hands  at  the  sport.  There 
is  a  marked  difference,  however,  in  the  modes  of 
pushing.  The  black,  Bill  Starn,  as  he  is  called, 
careers  over  the  marsh,  like  a  wild  horse  on  a 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  151 

prairie,  putting  up  birds  on  all  sides  and  keeping 
his  man  busy,  while  Dennis,  who  is  at  home  on 
every  foot  of  the  flat,  glides  along  steadily  and 
evenly,  flushing  a  bird  at  every  boat's  length,  as 
he  edges  gradually  in  towards  the  bank  with  the 
rise  of  the  tide.     At  one  time  four  birds  are  on  a 
fly  for  each  boat,  nearly  at  the  same   moment ; 
two  are  shot  from  the  batteau,  which,  according 
to   agreement,    carries   but   one  gun,  and  three 
from  the  skiff,  which  is  privileged  to  use  two. 
These  birds  fall  among  the  thickest  of  the  reeds, 
but  being  fairly  hit  they  are  all  found.     Bill 
shows  his  teeth  and  rolls  his  eyes  among  the 
reeds   like  a  wild  beast ;  he  sees  like  a  hawk 
and  moves  like  the  wind.     He  boats  his  dead 
birds,  is  off  again,  and  has  two  more  down  in  a 
moment.     One  of  these,  however,  is  crippled  and 
although  the   wild  pusher  strikes  directly  at  it, 
the  bird  evades  the  blow  by  disappearing  under 
water,   while  Bill,  with  a  wild,  African  shout, 
thrashing  the  reeds  with  his  pole,  continues  his 
career.     Dennis  follows  more  slowly,  but  as  the 
wind  continues  to  rise  with  the  tide,  it  is  to  be 
seen  that  he  keeps  his  man  on  a  steadier  level, 
partly  owing  to  the  flat  bottom  of  the  batteau, 
and   partly  to  his  long  experience  in  pushing. 
He  flushes  bird  after  bird  as  he  advances,  his 


152  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

man  shooting  the  instant  the  gun  touches  his 
shoulder,  and  invariably  riddling  his  bird.  At 
length  while  the  skiff  is  still  traversing  the  high 
reeds,  the  batteau  enters  a  space  of  about  a  half 
an  acre,  covered  with  a  species  of  water-weed 
bearing  a  profusion  of  yellow  nowrers.  There  is 
just  water  enough  upon  it  to  float  the  batteau 
easily,  so  well  has  the  pusher  hit  his  time.  The 
boat  first  takes  the  edges  of  the  space  in  a  wide, 
circling  sweep.  Not  a  bird  rises.  "  Bad  show, 
Dennis,"  says  the  sportsman.  But  Dennis  knows 
better,  and  still  continuing  his  course  but  con- 
tracting its  circle,  the  rail  at  last  begin  to  show 
themselves.  Three  are  killed  successively,  and 
two  more  the  instant  after.  "  Let  them  lie," 
says  the  old  stager,  waxing  warm  and  plying  his 
pole  like  lightening;  "kill  them  dead,  sir,  and 
they  won't  move."  The  game  now  rise  so  fast 
from  among  these  yellow  flowers,  that  the 
shooter's  dexterity  in  loading  comes  first  into 
play,  and,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  he  shows 
himself  an  adept.  Sixteen  birds  are  down  at 
one  time,  and  being  killed  according  to  the 
pusher's  instructions,  he  does  not  lose  a  feather. 
In  this  comparatively  small  space  of  the  marsh, 
thirty-six  birds  are  boated,  not  a  rail  being 
missed,  or  pinioned,  or  escaping  Welsh's  sharp 
eves  after  b?inir  knocked  down. 


RAIL  SHOOTING.  153 

In  the  mean  time  the  skiff  is  nearly  lost  sight 
of  among  at  least  a  dozen  others,  which,  from 
the  rapid  and  continued  firing,  appeared  to  be 
having  good  sport.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  however, 
that  Bill's  man  begins  to  shoot  with  less  certainty 
than  before,  and  that  the  second  gun  is  less 
frequently  brought  into  requisition.  The  rail 
also  seem  to  display  more  life  upon  the  wing; 
they  fly  swifter  and  further.  The  wind  has 
increased  to  a  half  a  gale,  and  a  portion  of  the 
rest  of  the  shooters  are  observed  to  be  making 
bad  work. 

"  The  tide  will  be  up  to  the  top  of  the  bank, 
sir,"  says  Bill,  "but  the  daylight  will  hardly 
last  it  out." 

"  Aye,"  answers  the  shooter,  "  we  must  get 
further  in  :  the  water  is  driving  the  birds  towards 
the  meadows." 

At  this  moment  a  report  like  that  of  a  six 
pounder  is  heard  among  the  boats,  followed  by  a 
dense  cloud  of  smoke.  Some  shooter  has  blown 
up  his  rail  box.  On  goes  Bill  without  giving 
the  accident  a  second  thought ;  but  the  indefati- 
gable Dennis  is  there  before  him,  and  now  com- 
mences a  trial  of  sportsmanship  between  the  two 
boats,  which  is  exciting  enough  when  viewed 
from  the  bank.  They  are  pushing  side  and  side 


154  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

within  fifty  yards  of  each  other,  flushing  and 
dropping  their  game  in  a  style  not  to  be  excelled. 
Bill  manages  his  boat  beautifully  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, and  his  man  shoots  now  remarkably 
well.  But  his  opponent  is  equally  sure,  and  the 
extraordinary  rapidity  with  which  Dennis  spins 
the  batteau,  as  it  were,  on  her  heel,  in  retrieving 
a  bird  which  has  fallen  afar  on  either  hand, 
while  the  skiff  is  obliged  to  push  stern  foremost, 
or  to  make  a  curve  line  for  the  same  purpose, 
gives  the  first  a  slight  but  decided  advantage. 

"  Hurrah,  Dennis !"  shouts  a  fellow  in  a  third 
boat,  as  two  double  shots  successively  occur  to 
the  batteau;  "old  Grey  steel  forever!" 

Looking  at  the  man  we  at  once  recognize  our 
ci-devant  original  who  "done"  with  the  fat  gen- 
tleman on  the  first  of  the  tide.  He  has  now 
another  jolly -look  ing  shooter  in  charge,  a  very 
different  person,  however,  for  we  see  at  once  it 
is  our  friend  Major  F.  who,  although  last  on  the 
marsh,  we  will  wager  a  dozen,  will  not  come  off 
least.  A  moment  after  two  birds  spring  and 
cross,  and  are  killed  from  the  skiff  at  a  single 
shot. 

"  Hurrah !"  shouts  a  United  States  officer  from 
the  fort,  waving  his  cap,  "  that  is  what  I  call 
sport." 


RAIL  SIIOOTIXG.  155 

A  flock  of  teal,  with  the  singular  temerity 
which  sometimes  marks  the  flight  of  these  dainty 
little  ducks,  now  shoot  across  the  meadow  and 
wheel  directly  over  the  boats.  Neither  shooter 
gives  the  least  token  of  their  presence,  and  Den- 
nis's man  kills  a  king  rail,  which  happened  to 
rise  at  the  moment,  as  expeditiously  as  ever. 
The  Major  being  under  no  such  restrictions  does 
not  fail  to  salute  the  unexpected  visitors  right 
and  left,  dropping  three  with  one  barrel  and  two 
with  the  second.  Well  done,  Major;  we  have 
had  a  taste  of  your  sportsmanship  ;  we  have  seen 
a  specimen  of  your  shooting  before.  The  con- 
test is  continued  till  the  sun  sinks  on  the  scene, 
and  the  shades  of  evening  drive  the  boats  from 
the  flats,  just  as  the  tide  begins  to  fall.  On 
counting  the  game,  it  is  found  that  one  numbers 
a  hundred  and  four  and  the  other  ninety-seven 
birds.  It  was  a  tight  match,  and  the  batteau 
has  beaten  the  skiff'  by  seven  birds. 

Such  animated  scenes  as  this,  gentle  reader, 
varied  by  other  incidents,  occasionally  of  a  serious 
nature,  occur  upon  the  flats  of  the  Delaware  arid 
Sclmylkill  every  day  during  the  season,  when 
the  state  of  the  tide  will  permit.  They  continue 
for  four  or  five  weeks,  when  the  rail  suddenly 
migrate  at  night,  and  as  the  reed  birds  generally 


156  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

depart  before,  the  marshes  are  comparatively 
silent  and  deserted;  the  reeds  wither  and  are 
beaten  down  by  the  equinoctial  gales,  and  as  the 
season  advances,  the  flats  assume  their  old  bleak 
and  desolate  aspect,  relieved  only  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  crow  and  the  wild  duck,  or  by  that 
of  some  solitary  snipe  shooter  slowly  traversing 
the  drifts  with  his  dog. 

Before  concluding  this  article,  we  would 
mention  that  rail  have  been  and  are  still  hunted 
on  foot,  on  the  flood  tide.  We  remember  re- 
peatedly to  have  seen  our  old  acquaintance, 
Major  Deadshot,  wading  up  to  his  middle  on 
the  Broad  Marsh,  with  his  dogs,  Bob  and  Dash, 
swimming  around  him,  and  upon  more  occa- 
sions than  one,  on  a  scant  tide,  he  has  been 
known  to  bring  in  more  birds  than  "the  best 
boat."  We  are  informed  that  he  has  killed  his 
usual  quantum  of  rail  in  this  way  during  the 
past  season,  and  excepting  that  his  famous  dogs 
have  gone  the  way  of  all  flesh,  he  is  still  the 
same  veritable  Major  Deadshot,  upon  whom  we 
looked  with  undisguised  reverence,  when  shoot- 
ing had  an  undefined  and  mysterious  fascina- 
tion for  us,  in  the  happy  days  of  our  boyhood. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING. 

THE  AMERICAN  PARTRIDGE— PERDIX  YIRGINIANUS. 

Description. — "  The  American  partridge  is  nine 
inches  long,  and  fourteen  in  extent;  the  bill  is 
black;  line  over  the  eye,  down  the  neck,  and 
whole  chin,  pure  white,  bounded  by  a  band  of 
black,  which  descends  and  spreads  broadly  over 
the  throat ;  the  eye  is  dark  hazel ;  crown,  neck 
and  upper  parts  of  the  breast,  red  brown ;  sides 
of  the  neck,  spotted  with  black  and  white  on  a 
reddish  brown  ground ;  back,  scapulars  and  les- 
ser coverts,  red  brown,  intermixed  with  ash,  and 
sprinkled  with  black;  tertials,  edged  with  yel- 
lowish white ;  wings  plain  dusky ;  lower  parts 
of  the  breast  and  belly,  pale  yellowish  white, 
beautifully  marked  with  numerous  curving  spots, 
or  arrowheads  of  black ;  tail,  ash,  sprinkled  with 
reddish  brown ;  legs,  very  pale  ash.  The  female 
differs  from  the  male  in  having  the  chin  and 
sides  of  the  head  yellowish  brown." 

The  young  broods  are  fit  for  the  sport  by  the 
twentieth  of  October,  and  although  inferior  to 


158  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

their  parents  in  stratagy,  fly  to  cover  with  equal 
swiftness  and  less  appearance  of  labor.  They 
are,  however,  incapable  of  sustaining  long  flights, 
easier  brought  down,  and  less  fleet  on  their  legs 
when  winged.  When  cornered  by  the  dog,  they 
sometimes  utter  a  shrill  squeak.  They  are  more 
apt  to  crouch  at  the  approach  of  danger  than  the 
old  birds,  and  when  scattered  by  the  sportsman 
make  for  the  nearest  shelter,  where  they  keep 
silent  for  a  time,  but  soon  show  their  desire  to 
re-assemble  by  calling  and  answering  each  other 
from  different  parts  of  the  covert.  Their  signal 
notes  on  these  occasions  are  soft,  plaintive  and 
peculiarly  expressive  of  anxiety.  The  old  birds 
fly  further  and  deeper  into  the  woods,  preserve  a 
wary  silence  for  many  moments  together,  and 
are  only  to  be  traced  to  their  hiding  places  by 
the  keen  nose  of  your  four-footed  advuvant. 

Inasmuch  as  we  observe  the  partridge  invari- 
ably taking  to  cover,  when  flushed  by  sportsmen 
or  pursued  by  birds  of  prey,  and,  in  fact,  passing 
most  of  its  time  near  its  edge,  we  might  at  first 
glance  imagine  that  the  same  instinct  would  lead 
it  to  select  its  place  of  repose  in  the  deep  shade 
of  the  thicket.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
We  know  that  it  roosts  in  the  open  fields,  but 
never  in  the  same  enclosure  in  which  it  feeds, 
unless  it  be  of  unusual  extent. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  159 

After  having  filled  their  crops,  towards  eve- 
ning they  make  a  single  flight  from  the  stubbles 
to  the  spot  selected  for  the  roost,  on  which  they 
alight  in  a  body,  nestle  close,  and  stir  not  again 
until  dawn.  Although  frequently  found  in  the 
narrow  strips  of  grass  which  the  mowers  leave 
in  a  line  with  the  fence,  they  are  careful  to  avoid 
roosting  near  these,  and  to  choose,  as  near  as 
possible,  the  very  centre  of  the  field.  These  facts 
are  strongly  illustrative  of  the  self-preservative 
instinct,  sharpened  into  intelligence  by  the  diffe- 
rent dangers,  to  which,  sleeping  or  waking,  the 
bird  is  continually  exposed.  To  escape  from 
man  and  other  enemies  who  pursue  them  by 
day,  they  pitch  hurriedly  into  bush  or  thicket ; 
but  when  the  stealthy  prowlers  of  the  wood  are 
abroad,  the  covey,  sitting  on  an  elevated  spot 
in  the  middle  of  the  field,  in  a  circle  of  less  than 
twelve  inches  in  diameter,  sleep  comparatively 
secure  under  the  wing  of  night. 

But  there  is  yet  another  fact  connected  with 
the  roost,  which  challenges  our  attention.  Many 
of  the  feathered  tribes  bury  their  heads  in  their 
plumage  on  the  approach  of  evening.  Even  the 
restless  sea-bird,  which,  it  has  been  said,  never 
sleeps,  has  been  seen  riding  the  wild  waves  with 
its  head  under  its  wing.  But  the  partridge  after 


ICO  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

all  its  ingenious  care  to  conceal  its  resting  place 
from  nocturnal  foes,  manifests  no  such  sense  of 
security.  The  roost  is  ranged  with  strict  refe- 
rence to  the  dangers  which,  in  some  degree, 
menace  it  still.  It  is  known  that  the  head  of 
each  bird  is  turned  outwards,  forming,  so  to 
speak,  a  continuous  ring  of  posts,  while  the  tails 
touch,  so  that  each  living  segment  of  that  little 
circular  camp  of  innocents,  is  ready  to  start  and 
shift  for  itself,  at  the  least  thrill  of  alarm. 

There  is  thought  to  be  an  appreciable  diffe- 
rence in  the  sizes  of  the  male  and  female  par- 
tridges. Occasionally  an  old  cock  bird  is  killed 
whose  weight  is  worthy  of  registry.  In  some 
parts  of  upper  Pennsylvania  where  the  birds  are 
little  disturbed,  we  have  found  both  of  unusual 
size.  During  the  shooting  season  the  yearling 
broods  are  readily  known  by  their  inferiority  in 
this  respect,  and  young  birds  are  always  to  be 
distinguished  from  old  ones  by  their  smooth, 
tender,  light-colored  legs.  The  legs  of  the  old 
birds  are  black  and  covered  with  scales.  The 
partridge  is  found  in  almost  every  section  of  the 
Union,  but  it  is  principally  in  the  Eastern  and 
Middle  States,  and  in  some  sections  of  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  that  it  is  considered  game  and  sys- 
tematically hunted  with  dogs. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING. 

Many  of  our  senior  readers  will,  doubtless, 
remember  the  time,  when  the  prospect  of  a  day's 
partridge  shooting  was  sweeter  to  their  youthful 
fancies,  than  the  mellifluous  sound  of  the  Ionian 
dialect,  a  high  standard  class  circular,  or  even  a 
July  vacation.  Others,  again,  like  the  editor, 
will  confess  that  their  ardor  in  this  species  of 
sport  was  never  so  intense,  as  when  hunting 
woodcocks  in  their  marshy  solitudes — starting 
before  the  peep  of  day  to  set  decoys  for  the 
wild  duck,  or  with  Ponto  and  Dash,  after 
breakfast,  to  beat  up  the  haunts  of  the  wild 
and  wandering  snipe.  It  was  only  during  the 
last  season,  while  shooting  over  the  wooded 
hills  near  Green  Lane,  in  the  upper  part  of 
Montgomery,  that  we  were  conscious  of  a 
slight  thrill  of  jealousy,  when  our  companion 
unexpectedly  killed,  towards  the  close  of  day, 
a  brace  of  fine  snipe  on  a  wet  stubble-field. 
We  did  not  dream  at  the  moment,  of  encoun- 
tering our  arch  favorite  on  the  very  summit 
of  a  bleak  ridge,  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of 
November;  arid  as  the  shooter  complacently 
smoothed  down  the  plumage  of  the  birds,  and 
carefully  dropped  them  in  the  innermost  recess 
of  his  shooting  coat,  the  action  went  to  our 
heart,  Truth  to  tell,  it  cost  us  a  struggle  to 


162  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

subdue  the  sinful  feeling,  it  was  so  very  like 
coquetting  with  our  first  love.  We  had  no 
previous  reason  to  be  malcontent,  having  shot 
over  many  points  that  day  at  partridge  and 
ruffed  grouse ;  nevertheless,  had  tve  fallen  in 
with  that  brace  of  snipe  as  the  sun  went  down, 
we  should  have  restored  the  gun  to  its  case 
with  a  tranquil  mind;  we  should  have  ridden 
home  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  and  blessed 
our  auspicious  stars. 

But,  be  it  remembered  at  the  outset,  that  we 
profess  no  desire  to  disparage  the  merits  of  this 
delectable  sport,  in  which,  una  voce,  most  shooters 
glory.  It  has  irresistible  charms  for  young  and 
old,  and  as  long  as  King  Nimrod — we  had  nearly 
said  Ramrod — has  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  men — 
as  long  as  Ponto  and  Dash  can  distinguish  a 
stubble-field  from  a  stable-yard — so  long  will 

"  The  pointer  range,  and  the  sportsman  beat;" 

so  long  will  it  be  considered  as  the  beau  ideal  of 
field  shooting.  The  partridge  has  been  so  long 
and  so  closely  identified  with  scenes  of  rural 
study,  and  rural  industry,  and  has  been  so 
minutely  described,  that  its  habits  would  seem 
to  be  perfectly  familiar  to  the  public.  Sports- 
men differ,  however,  as  to  several  points  in  the 
history  of  its  economy,  and,  according  to  Mr. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  163 

Herbert,  it  will  be  long  before  even  the  question 
of  its  true  ornithological  title  is  settled.  "The 
difficulty,"  says  that  gentleman,  "lies  not  so 
much  in  the  delicacy  of  the  subject  itself,  as  in 
the  utter  want  of  sporting  authority  in  America 
competent  to  pronounce  a  decree."  With  due 
deference  to  Mr.  Herbert,  we  would  remark  that 
it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  he,  himself,  will  be 
soon  called  to  the  task,  since  with  all  his  research 
and  experience  in  the  field,  he  has  already  made 
a  curious  blunder  of  pronouncing  the  American 
partridge,  a  quail,  to  which  it  really  bears  little 
analogy,  as  our  townsman,  Dr.  E.  J.  Lewis,  of 
Philadelphia,  in  his  Hints  to  Sportsmen,  page 
forty-seven,  has  conclusively  shown.  This  error 
is  more  remarkable,  inasmuch  as  however  fan- 
ciful Forrester  may  be  in  his  description  of  the 
modus  operandi  of  killing  a  brace  of  wild  ducks, 
right  and  left,  from  behind  a  pair  of  fast  trotting 
nags  going  at  speed,  he  is  generally  correct  in 
his  appreciation  of  the  habits  of  the  bird  which 
he  professes  to  portray.  One  of  the  mooted 
points  in  the  history  of  the  partridge,  is  the 
number  of  broods  which  each  pair  of  old  birds 
produce  in  a  season  ;  another  relates  to  what 
has  been  rather  unadvisably  called  the  mys- 
terious faculty  of  withholding  its  scent,  when 


164  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

hiding  away  from  the  dogs.  The  first,  although 
of  some  little  interest  to  the  naturalist,  is  of  still 
less  to  the  sportsman,  except,  indeed,  when  a 
scarcity  of  game  has  been  experienced,  as  in 
the  last  season, — during  which  the  gunsmiths 
of  Philadelphia  sold  less  small  shot  than  they 
have  done  for  years, — and  as  furnishing  a  topic 
for  learned  discussion  on  each  annual  campaign, 
after  his  triumphant  return  from  the  woods  and 
stubbles.  The  other  more  nearly  concerns  the 
shooter  and  his  abettors,  especially  the  intel- 
lectual nose  of  Ponto,  and  is  more  curious  in  its 
phrases,  even  when  stript  of  the  mystical  air 
with  which  some  writers  of  the  day  would  invest 
it.  In  regard  to  the  first  point,  we  would  ob- 
serve, that  although  the  partridge  displays  more 
art  in  the  process  of  nidification  than  the  wood- 
cock, yet  from  the  comparatively  late  period  of 
her  incubation,  and  from  obvious  causes  con- 
nected with  agricultural  pursuits,  the  nest  of 
the  former  is  much  more  frequently  found  than 
that  of  the  latter  bird.  They  are  also  more 
jealous  of  intrusion,  and  more  apt  to  abandon 
the  nest  when  disturbed.  The  mere  flushing 
her  in  this  situation,  is  often  resented  by  an 
entire  and  immediate  desertion  of  the  spot, 
which,  for  weeks  previous,  perhaps,  had  been 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  165 

the  object  of  her  especial  solicitude.  Should 
the  eggs  be  handled,  it  is  very  rare  indeed  that 
the  bird  is  again  seen  on  the  nest.  It  would 
almost  seem,  that  in  the  mysteries  of  nature's 
ordering,  the  process  of  incubation  of  this  fami- 
liar bird  must  be  carried  on  in  entire  silence 
and  solitude ;  as  if  the  little  temple  of  woven  grass 
and  leaves,  not  to  speak  profanely,  were  a  very 
sanctum  sanctorum,  not  to  be  desecrated  by 
other  eyes  than  those  of  its  priestess.  When, 
however,  it  is  once  abandoned,  the  bird  does  not 
immediately  proceed  to  lay  again,  as  might,  at 
first  glance,  be  supposed.  An  interval  of  some 
days  arid  even  weeks  may  elapse,  during  which 
she  may  be  daily  seen  sitting  listlessly  on  a 
fence-rail  for  many  moments  at  a  time,  while 
other  more  fortunate  mothers  are  already  lead- 
ing about  their  callow  broods.  The  male  closely 
attends  his  mate,  and  would  seem,  by  his  silence 
and  drooping  attitude,  to  share  in  her  dejection 
of  spirits.  At  length,  however,  another  place 
of  concealment  is  sought  for,  and  another  nest 
made;  should  the  same  fate  attend  this  which 
befell  the  first,  \ve  have  reason  to  believe  that, 
after  a  second  interval,  greater  or  less,  the  bird 
will  lay  again,  and  her  brood,  perhaps  not  more 
than  one-third  grown,  will  be  found  by  the 
11 


166  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

sportsman  as  late  as  the  middle  of  October,  or 
even  in  November.     In  fact,  so  many  accidental 
irregularities  occur  in  the  period  of  incubation, 
that  the  farmer  will  often  tell  you,  that  he  has 
seen  broods  of  unfledged  birds  in  his  first  crop 
of  grass,  in  his  oats,  in  his  wheat,  in  his  corn 
and,  last  of  all,  in  his  buckwheat.     We  were 
long  inclined  to  the  popular  belief,  that  as  a 
law  of  her  instinct,   the  partridge  reared  two 
broods  in  a  season,  but  later  observations  have 
inclined    us    to    correct    our   opinion.     These 
inquiries  were  principally  made  in  a  section  of 
the  country  where  we  have  resided  for  years, 
and  shot  over  for  many  successive  seasons,  a  sec- 
tion where  partridges  are  comparatively  scarce, 
and  which  we  believe,  to  be  better  suited  for  the 
purposes  of  investigation,  than  a  region  where 
they  are   unusually  abundant.     In   the   latter 
locality,  so  many  late  broods,  consequent  upon 
the  irregularities  we  have  already  noticed,  will 
always  be  met    with  in  the   shooting   season, 
that  distinct  broods  will  be  confounded  together 
by  sportsmen  as  the  progeny  of  one  pair  of  old 
birds,  especially  when  from  accident  or  design, 
one  or  more  of  these  coveys  of  young  birds  have 
been  deprived  of  the  fostering  care  of  a  parent. 
In  various  sections  of  the  Middle  States,  especi- 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  167 

ally  in  the  valleys  of  Pennsylvania,  it  is  not  a 
very  rare  occurrence  for  the  dogs  to  point  two 
and  even  three  coveys  of  different  sizes  in  the 
same  field,  and  the  shooter,  observing,  perhaps, 
but  one  pair  of  old  birds  rise  in  this  promiscu- 
ous progeny,  at  once  jumps  at  his  conclusion  of 
two  broods  in  a  season.  It  is  not  thus,  however, 
that  assertions  are  to  be  advanced  and  facts 
established  in  the  history  of  a  bird  so  jealous  of 
its  more  occult  habits  and  so  impatient  of  con- 
finement as  the  partridge.  Still  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  an  amount  of  information  which 
may  be  relied  on,  and  of  keeping  a  continuous 
watch  upon  several  pair  of  old  birds,  even  in  a 
part  of  the  country  where  the  haunts  of  every 
covey,  for  miles  around,  are  perfectly  well 
known,  almost  precludes  the  possibility  of  decid- 
ing the  question.  On  the  whole,  we  are  inclined 
to  think  that  the  partridge,  like  the  woodcock, 
as  a  law  of  her  nature,  rears  but  one  brood  in 
a  year. 

The  cock  bird  relieves  the  hen  at  least  once 
during  the  day,  and  nestles  close  to  her  at  night. 
Indeed,  he  seldom  wanders  far  from  the  nest, 
and  from  the  period  of  pairing  until  the  young 
birds  are  able  to  fly,  is  as  attentive  to  his  family 
duties  as  the  turtle-dove  or  the  domstic  pigeon. 


168    .          KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

What  is  asserted  of  the  English  partridge,  is 
doubtless  true  of  our  own,  that  when  once  paired 
they  rarely  separate.  Jt  is  well  known  that  the 
partridge  may  be  reared  in  the  barn-yard.  In 
the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty,  we  saw 
one  of  a  brood  which  had  been  brought  up  in 
this  manner  by  a  bantam  hen.  It  was  then  full 
grown  and  quietly  feeding  with  the  chickens. 
The  experiment  has  also  been  reversed,  by 
placing  the  eggs  of  the  common  hen  under  the 
partridge.  In  this  case  the  result  was  more 
curious,  as  the  brood  of  chickens  thus  produced 
had  all  the  wild  habits  of  young  partridges.  In 
commenting  upon  this  change,  Wilson,  the 
father  of  American  ornithology,  reasonably  ob- 
serves that  "there  is  scarcely  a  doubt  that  the 
domestic  fowl  might  be  very  soon  brought  back 
to  its  original  savage  state,  and  thereby  supply 
another  additional  subject  for  the  amusement  of 
the  sportsman.  But,"  he  adds,  "  the  experi-  * 
ment,  in  order  to  secure  its  success,  must  be 
made  in  a  quarter  of  the  country  less  exposed 
than  ours  to  the  ravages  of  guns,  traps,  dogs, 
and  the  deep  snows  of  winter,  that  the  new 
tribe  might  have  full  time  to  become  completely 
naturalized,  and  well  fixed  in  their  native 
habits."  This  reminds  us  of  an  adventure  of  a 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  169 

friend  of  ours,  who,  with  a  companion,  had 
what  was  termed  rare  sport,  in  hunting  a  brood 
of  guinea  fowls,  which  had  been  hatched  and 
gone  wild  in  the  woods  of  New  Jersey.  There 
was  an  abundance  of  brush,  and  the  birds  laid 
well  after  their  first  fright,  and  were  all  killed 
over  points.* 

In  some  parts  of  the  old  world  where  game 
are  strictly  preserved,  the  disposition  of  the  do- 
mestic fowl  to  relapse  into  a  wild  state  has  often 
been  noticed.  An  anecdote  of  the  kind  was 
related  to  us  several  years  ago  by  the  son  of  a 
deceased  oberjagermeister  of  the  Duke  of  Hesse 
D'Armstadt.  A  common  hen  had  hatched  out 
a  brood  of  twenty  chicks  in  a  remote  part  of  the 
park,  and  when  discovered,  both  the  mother 
and  her  progeny,  which  were  nearly  full  grown, 

*  We  once  shot  for  several  seasons  with  a  pet  pointer,  who  would 
stand  any  bird  to  which  his  attention  was  particularly  directed, 
from  a  small  sand-piper  to  a  tame  turkey.  It  was  very  apparent, 
however,  from  the  comic  look  which  his  countenance  assumed,  that 
Toby  comprehended  the  matter,  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the 
frolic  merely  in  obedience  to  his  master's  whims,  and  that  in  his 
unrestrained,  sober  moods,  he  considered  such  foolery  as  entirely 
beneath  the  line  of  his  business.  To  cats,  indeed,  he  had  an 
undisguised  aversion,  and  would  hunt  them  through  the  stable- 
yard,  or  stand  them  staunchly  in  the  field.  Nothing  appeared  to 
rejoice  his  heart  more,  than  to  be  in  at  the  death  of  a  vagrant  cat 
detected  in  a  poaching  expedition,  and  if  allowed  to  take  a  morsel 
of  her  hair,  he  asked  nothing  further  of  fate. 


170  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

were  as  wild  as  pheasants.  They  were  all  shot 
over  pointers  by  the  huntsman,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  two  or  three  killed  on  the  trees.  It  is  to 
be  supposed,  however,  that  wild  chicken  shoot- 
ing would  prove  no  better  sport  than  knocking 
over  pinnated  grouse  on  the  prairies,  which, 
according  to  report,  is  but  tame  work,  and 
although  the  complete  domestication  of  the  par- 
tridge would  be  a  feather  in  the  cap  of  the 
naturalist,  yet  upon  due  consideration,  the 
sportsman  will  do  well  to  leave  the  barn-fowl 
in  quiet  possession  of  roost  and  dunghill. 

Besides  the  shooter  who  annually  goes  out 
to  brace  mind  and  body  in  this  exciting  sport, 
the  little  partridge  has  many  orthodox  enemies, 
so  to  speak.  Piratical  hawks  are  constantly 
cruising  the  air  round  its  haunts ;  the  fox,  the 
raccoon  and  the  snake,  each  has  its  snatch  at 
the  broods ;  while  the  farmer's  boy,  with  his 
Birmingham  barrel  and  cock-tailed  cur,  or  his 
deadly  figure-four,  betraying  whole  coveys,  at  a 
fall,  to  his  remorseless  clutch,  makes  war  upon 
them  early  and  late.  Even  grimalkin,  when 
tired  of  mousing  in  the  barn  or  dining  off  of 
scraps,  will  slyly  creep  away  to  the  field  or 
thicket,  to  set  up  her  failing  appetite  on  poached 
game.  For  everv  arrow  head  on  its  dotted 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  171 

breast  the  partridge  has  its  foe,  to  say  nothing 
of  such  a  winter  as  that  preceding  the  last. 
Living  in  the  country,  it  gives  us  pleasure  to 
say,  that  every  year  we  do  something  in  the 
way  of  lessening  its  enemies,  by  shooting,  trap- 
ping, or  breaking  up  the  nests  of  hawks,  hunt- 
ing the  fox  and  the  coon,  smashing  the  traps, 
bamboozling  the  boy,  and  conspiring  against 
the  cock-tailed  cur.  As  to  grimalkin,  woe  unto 
her,  should  we  once  catch  a  glimpse  of  her 
furred  skin  skulking  in  the  hedge,  or  crouching 
in  the  grass  from  the  dogs.  Not  all  the  war- 
locks in  weird-land — not  all  the  carlins  which 
chased  Tarn  O'Shanter,  could  avert  her  doom 
for  a  single  instant.  Bleed  she  must,  be  she 
brindle,  tortoise  shell,  black,  white,  yellow,  or 
gray,  and  as  wise  in  her  moods  as  Whittington's 
or  that  of  my  lord  Marquis  of  Carrabas. 

"  Swift  from  the  tube  the  leaden  vengeance  flies, 
And  Ponto  laughs  as  poaching  pussy  dies." 

There  is  scarcely  a  season  passes  but  we  are 
called  upon  to  add  another  tail  or  two  to  the 
talley.  Last  year  we  shot  a  torn  among  the 
cedars  on  Stone  Hill,  grouse  hunting,  no  doubt, 
and  on  returning  home  were  forced  to  inflict 
the  penalty  of  the  law  upon  another,  a  splendid 
fellow,  the  very  minion  of  a  nursery  hearth-rug, 


172  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  miniature  Bengal  tiger  of  an  old  fashioned 
fire-fender ; — but  such  is  the  perversity  of  feline 
nature, — twice  detected  in  the  act  of  stealing 
young  Shanghai  chickens  from  the  coops.  On 
another  occasion,  while  shooting  near  Dennis- 
ville,  New  Jersey,  the  dog  pointed  what  we  at 
first  supposed,  from  his  look  and  attitude,  to  be  a 
hare.  In  an  instant,  however,  moving  on  his 
length,  he  stood  stiffly.  Getting  sight  of  Miss 
Puss  stealing  away  through  the  rails  of  the 
fence,  we  discharged  one  barrel  at  her  and  the 
other  at  one  of  her  intended  victims  as  they 
rose,  and  we  are  happy  to  be  able  to  state,  that 
even-handed  justice  gave  a  tolerably  fair  ac- 
count of  both.  The  birds  were  dusting  and 
pruning  their  plumage  in  the  bushy  point  of  a 
wood ;  puss  was  evidently  watching  their  mo- 
tions, premeditating  a  glorious  pounce,  when 
Ponto,  winding  the  game,  pointed  her  and  her 
unconscious  prey  at  the  same  moment.  The 
old  fellow  was  not  at  all  confused  by  the  two 
scents,  and  showed  his  satisfaction  at  the  result 
by  looking  up  in  his  master's  face  with  eager 
eyes,  begging  for  a  single  shake.  When  gravely 
reminded  that  this  was  decidedly  out  of  charac- 
ter, he  solaced  himself  by  wagging  his  wiry  tail^ 
while  his  countenance  wore  that  knowing,  imp- 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.         1?3 

ish  look,  which  a  hard-faced  urchin  might  be 
supposed  to  assume,  when  rubbing  his  hands 
in  high  glee  at  some  unexpected  piece  of  fun. 

The  fox  will  trail  a  running  covey,  just  as  a 
wolf  follows  "a  gang  of  turkies,"  by  the  scent. 
A  medical  gentleman  was  reading  under  a  large 
shell-bark  tree,  the  lower  branches  of  which 
formed  a  complete  circle  of  shade,  when  he 
observed  a  fox  coursing  like  a  dog  in  the  same 
field.  After  running  with  his  nose  down  for 
some  moments,  he  suddenly  sprang  into  the 
hollow  of  a  stump,  out  of  which  at  the  same 
instant  flew  a  covey  of  full  grown  partridges. 
Reynard,  however,  secured  one  with  which  he 
beat  a  retreat  to  a  rocky  hill  in  the  vicinity. 
This  occurred  in  the  month  of  September  at 
mid-day,  and  considerably  astonished  the  doc- 
tor. 

So  many  useful  instructions  have  been  else- 
where given  to  the  young  shooter,  that  we  have 
little  to  say  on  this  score,  except  to  beg  him  to 
remember,  that  he  has  no  more  right  to  feel 
flurried  in  the  field,  than  in  the  drawing-room. 
"  A  gentleman,"  says  Lord  Chesterfield,  or 
somebody  else,  "  may  be  in  haste,  but  he  never 
should  be  in  a  hurry."  The  same  rule  is  strictly 
applicable  to  sporting,  and  the  bungler  who 


174  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

interferes  with  the  shots  that  fall  to  his  com- 
panion, or  bangs  both  barrels  not  at  selected 
birds,  nor  in  reality  at  the  covey,  but  rather  at 
the  whir  of  their  short  wings  as  they  rise  before 
the  dogs,  is  equally  unfortunate  with  the  man 
who  publicly  commits  some  egregious  breach  of 
the  formula  of  common  politeness.  If,  however, 
as  is  often  the  case,  the  shooter  finds  himself 
unable  to  control  his  nervousness  at  the  critical 
moment  when  the  dogs  are  on  a  point,  we  advise 
him  to  hunt  a  season  or  two  with  an  experienced 
sportsman,  when,  by  observing  his  motions, 
and  listening  to  his  directions  in  the  field,  he 
will  gradually  get  the  better  of  his  own  undue 
excitement,  and  kill  his  birds  in  style.  We 
have  known  several  individuals  of  excitable 
temperaments,  who  have  been  cured  in  this 
way,  and  now  shoot  right  and  left  quite  as  well 
as  their  ci-devant  tutors.  A  vast  deal  of  the 
interest  which  attaches  itself  to  partridge  shoot- 
ing, depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
pursued,  and  there  is  no  sport  which  admits  of 
more  system  in  its  practice.  If  your  dogs  are 
excellent,  and  your  companion  one  whose  tem- 
per and  habits  in  the  field  chime  well  with  your 
own,  you  will  say,  perhaps,  that  it  is  the  most 
delightful  of  sports.  Like  other  varieties  of 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  175 

shooting,  it  induces  cheerfulness — throws  care 
to  the  winds — strengthens  the  body,  and  by 
giving  fresh  tone  to  the  mind  when  overtasked 
by  business,  sends  the  sportsman  back  to  his 
office,  or  counting-room,  with  a  new  lease  of 
existence.  It  is  the  greatest  possible  service  to 
thousands  of  persons  engaged  in  the  arduous 
pursuit  of  professions,  which  require  intense 
abstraction,  and  who  would  inevitably  break  down 
if  deprived  of  their  usual  relaxations  in  the 
shooting  seasons.  "  Black  care,"  says  the  Latin 
poet,  "sits  behind  the  flying  horseman;"  but 
who  ever  heard  of  care  striding  over  the  fields 
and  through  the  woods  with  the  sportsman  !  As 
the  poet  has  his  own  world,  within  the  mysterious 
precincts  of  wliich  the  rest  of  mankind  are  not 
privileged  to  enter,  so  the  sportsman  has  his 
separate  existence  which  no  one  is  permitted  to 
share,  save  Ponto,  without  whom,  indeed  we 
could  do  nothing,  and  who,  we  are  proud  to  say, 
belongs  to  the  order.  Now  dullards,  wiseacres 
and  clodpates,  stand  afar  off  and  scoff  both  at 
the  poet  and  the  sportsman.  "  Sblood,"  as  Hamlet 
says,  "there  is  something  in  this  more  than 
natural,  if  philosophy  could  find  it  out." 

We  should  like,  however,  in  the  neatest  way 
possible, — being  very  studious  to  avoid  giving 


176  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

offence, — to  remind  the  Rev.  William  Henry 
Herbert  and  his  followers — we  ask  Forrester's 
pardon  if  we  have  inadvertently  confounded  him 
with  the  sporting  clergy — to  remind  these  gen- 
tlemen, we  repeat,  that  it  is  not  exactly  in  char- 
acter to  prate  too  much  at  this  season  about 
"western  breezes" — " torrent  rays  of  mellow, 
liquid  lustre" — " gay  woodlands" — "wreaths  of 
purple  light,"  &c., — because,  we  would  gently 
insinuate,  that  it  is  by  no  means  the  dreamy 
skies  and  scenic  glories  of  an  American  autumn, 
which  makes  it  so  dear  to  the  partridge  shooter, 
with  "hie-away!"  and  "  to-ho !"  on  his  tongue. 
He  has  little  leisure,  we  opine,  to  court  a 
humorous  sadness  in  the  sunlight  of  its  golden 
noons,  while  his  dogs  are  feathering  actively 
before  him,  and  still  less  to  dwell  with  rapturous 
melancholy  on  the  gorgeous  dyes  of  the  forest, 
while  marking  down  the  scattered  birds  in  a 
briar  bush,  or  watching  them  skim  away  in  a 
sylvan  alley.  How,  we  would  in  all  courtesy 
ask,  how  can  he  stop  to  seek  food  for  thought  in 
the  rustle  of  a  sere  maize-leaf,  when  Ponto  is  on 
a  trail  in  the  furrow,  or  how,  in  the  name  of  Pan 
and  all  the  wood-nymphs,  can  he  hearken  to  the 
whistling  of  the  November  blast,  when  the  seduc- 
tive call  of  "  Bob  White,"  has  graver  charms  for 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  1?7 

his  ears,  than  the  sweet  south's  sighing  over- 
tures, or  all  old  autumn's  jEolian  music. 

"  Full  of  the  expected  sport  my  heart  beats  high, 
As  with  impatient  steps  I  haste  to  reach 
The  stubbles,  where  the  scattered  grain  affords 
A  sweet  repast  to  the  yet  heedless  game. 
Near  yonder  hedge-row  where  high  grass  and  ferns 
The  secret  hollow  shade,  my  pointers  stand, 
How  beautiful  they  look !  with  outstretched  tails, 
With  heads  immovable  and  eyes  fast  fixed, 
One  fore  leg  raised  and  bent,  the  other  firm, 
Advancing  forward,  presses  on  the  ground." 

This  is  the  language  of  an  enthusiastic  sports- 
man, talking  in  blank  verse,  and,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  last  line,  is  as  it  should  be.  He 
says  not  a  word,  you  perceive,  about  the  beau- 
ties of  the  season  ;  all  is  merged  in  the  sporting 
picture  before  him.  He  is  an  Englishman,  it  is 
true,  poor  fellow,  and  the  autumns  of  his  country 
are  rather  brown  affairs ;  but  the  fact  is,  the  rise 
and  fall  of  empires  is  nought  to  him,  at  that 
precious  moment  when  his  "  pointers  stand ;" 
and  it  is  this  vivid  filling  up  of  the  scene,  this 
direct  and  glorious  presentation  of  itself,  to  the 
utter  exclusion  of  all  other  objects,  together  with 
a  lurking  love  for  gunpowder,  which  places  the 
modern  Nimrod  in  a  charmed  circle,  and  gives 
its  fascination  to  the  sport.  "  I  low  beautiful 
they  look !"  By  the  way,  an  excellent  rule  for 


178  KRIBER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  nervous  man  is  to  follow  the  example  just 
quoted,  and  take  a  close  look  at  the  demeanor  of 
his  dogs,  before  he  proceeds  to  flush  the  game. 
By  doing  this  he  will  not  only  receive  an  edify- 
ing hint  to  restrain  his  own  ardor  at  the  right 
moment,  and  consequently  learn  to  shoot  better, 
but  also  gain  an  insight  into  the  hearts  of  his 
canine  friends  which  will  be  worth  remembering. 
Ponto  is  not  a  mere  sporting  implement,  like  the 
gun,  gentle  reader;  he  participates  in  all  the 
hopes,  the  fears,  the  joys  of  the  day,  which,  how- 
ever, only  stimulates  him  in  the  pursuit  of  game, 
and  makes  him  staunch  and  true  to  his  point. 
He  inherits  his  professional  qualities  and  dis- 
plays them  in  the  field  at  a  very  early  age.  We 
now  rejoice  in  a  stock  of  pointers,  the  puppies 
of  which  hunt,  stand  and  back  before  they  are 
six  months  old,  requiring,  in  fact,  little  training 
except  to  be  taught  to  keep  steady  at  the  report 
of  the  gun,  and  we  have  seen  a  setter  which  had 
not  attained  his  majority  by  several  months,  to 
astonish  a  number  of  veteran  sportsmen  by  the 
admirable  manner  in  which  he  found  and  stood 
snipe.  Whether  the  dog  returns  wholly  to  dust 
or  no,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  has  a-  soul  for 
sport.  The  question  of  his  immortality  has  been 
ably  discussed  in  a  late  number  of  the  Edin- 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  179 

burgh  Review ;  on  this  point  we  have  nothing 
to  say  here,  except  to  remark  en  passant,  that  it 
is  a  far  pleasanter  thing  for  us  to  spend  two  or 
three  weeks  of  a  season,  in  close  companionship 
with  a  high-bred,  intelligent,  joyous-hearted  ani- 
mal, than  to  be  shut  up  for  the  same  time  with 
an  austere,  pedantic  theologian,  even  though  he 
be  a  biped  of  the  true  Pharasaical  leaven,  with  his 
bond  of  immortality  signed  and  sealed  in  his 
pocket.  But  it  is  high  time  we  had  the  reader 
up  and  out. 

In  the  first  place,  eight  or  ten  hours  of  unbro- 
ken rest  on  the  night  previous  is  very  desirable 
especially  if  you  are  in  a  section  of  the  country 
where  game  abound,  and  are  disposed  to  keep 
up  your  work.  We  used  to  be  careless  on  this 
point  in  "our  salad  days;"  but  now,  although 
we  do  not  mind  hunting  from  dawn  until  dusk, 
we  invariably  retire  betimes.  In  the  w^ords  of 
the  sporting  song, 

"  It  will  not  do  .again  to  say, 

Tho'  hearts  be  still  as  light, 
That  we  have  hunted  all  the  day, 

And  revelled  all  the  night." 

The  dogs,  too,  must  be  carefully  attended  to. 
Be  sure  that  they  get  a  good  meat  supper  and 
are  securely  lodged  on  clean  litter,  with  a  bucket 


ISO  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

of  fresh  water  at  their  command.  Never  take  a 
dog  into  your  room  to  mar  your  rest  by  shifting 
his  camp  from  corner  to  corner,  or  beating  old 
Nick's  tattoo,  with  his  tail  under  the  bed.  He  is  a 
thousand  times  better  off  in  the  barn  or  the 
stable,  where,  if  you  take  a  look  at  his  quarters 
before  you  retire,  you  will  find  him  all  at  home, 
buried  up  to  the  nose,  perhaps,  in  rye  straw. 
If,  however,  he  is  an  especial  favorite,  and  you 
have  serious  doubts  as  to  the  honesty  of  the 
neighborhood — for  "train  up  a  dog,  and  away  he 
goes,"  is  a  ludicrous  saying  which  many  a  sports- 
man has  rued — in  that  case  if  you  bring  him  into 
your  sleeping  room  to  make  all  sure,  give  him  a 
bed  raised  a  foot  or  more  above  the  floor,  that  he 
may  lie  out  of  the  draught  of  cold  air,  to  which, 
reckless  of  exposure  as  he  is  in  the  field,  he  is  as 
susceptible  in  cuUculo  as  an  invalid.  If  you  are 
not  careful  in  this  respect,  you  will  have  him 
sailing  about  the  room,  sounding  every  inch  of 
harbor,  like  a  coast  surveyor,  and,  perhaps,  leap- 
ing on  the  bed ;  or  wanting  water  in  the  course 
of  the  night,  he  will  bring  down  the  wash-stand 
and  its  appurtenances  about  his  ears,  with  a 
grand  crash, — or  pull  down  your  shooting 
clothes,  and  hauling  them  out  of  the  current  of 
air,  make  a  dog-mat  out  of  them  until  morning. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.          181 

We  once  knew  a  valuable  pointer  belonging  to 
a  friend,  to  open  the  door  of  the  chamber  in 
which  he  was  lodged  with  his  master,  and  wan- 
dering into  the  entry,  pitch  over  a  part  of  the 
staircase  unguarded  by  bannisters,  and  lay  him- 
self up  for  the  season.  Moreover,  introducing 
dogs  into  the  sleeping  apartments  of  their  mas- 
ters learns  them  indolent  habits.  What  will  the 
reader  think  of  a  sportsman's  suddenly  missing 
his  dog  at  the  last  moment,  with  the  steamboat 
in  sight  from  the  pier — a  dozen  unpleasant  sus- 
picions crowding  on  his  mind— the  bar-tender, 
boots  and  the  ostler  all  actively  engaged  on  the 
scout,  and  when  the  rascal  turned  up  at  the 
eleventh  hour,  he  was  actually  discovered  by  the 
chambermaid,  lovingly  locked  in  the  arms  of 
Somnus  in  a  lodger's  bed.  Truly,  luxury  which 
ruined  the  Roman  empire,  would  soon  make 
Sybarites  of  Ponto  and  Dash,  as  it  has  of  their 
cousins,  the  King  Charles  and  the  Blenheim. 
Clean  rye  straw  in  a  warm  stall  is  good  enough 
for  the  villains,  in  the  frostiest  night  that  ever 
made  Dapple  cough  as  she  chewed  the  cud,  or 
honest  Dobbin  kick  at  the  stable  door.  They 
will  come  out  of  it  in  the  morning  top  side  up, 
with  shining  noses  and  sinews  new  strung  for  a 
a  hard  day's  hunt. 
12  * 


182  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

The  next  morning,  breakfast  being  over,  and 
all  things  in  readiness  for  an  early  start,  if  you 
have  any  distance  to  ride  to  the  grounds  which 
you  design  to  shoot  over,  by  all  means  take  in 
the  dogs.  Apart  from  the  looks  of  the  thing, 
they  are  liable  to  be  lost  on  the  road  in  a  strange 
neighborhood,  and  to  be  worried  by  country 
curs.  It  is  the  practice  of  a  sportsman  early  to 
accustom  his  brace  of  dogs  to  their  places  under 
his  feet  in  a  wagon,  where  they  will  soon  learn 
to  lie  still  and  mute,  without  discommoding  each 
other  or  their  masters.  A  dog  thus  treated 
enjoys  a  ride  to  and  from  the  grounds  quite  as 
much  as  the  shooter,  and  most  assuredly  equally 
deserves  it.  Several  instances  have  come  under 
our  notice,  of  valuable  dogs  which  have  been 
fagged  to  death  by  the  carelessness  or  brutality 
of  their  owners,  in  forcing  them  to  run  for  many 
miles  in  warm  weather  after  a  hard  hunt.  Such 
heartlessness  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned, 
and  wre  will  venture  to  say  that  the  persons  who 
were  guilty  of  it,  never  felt  a  single  spark  of  the 
generous  feeling  inherent  in  the  breast  of  a 
sportsman.  It  should  be  a  standing  rule  with 
every  shooter  who  takes  a  dog  into  the  field,  that 
when  I  ride  my  dogs  ride  also.  We  have  had 
occasion  to  notice  in  our  sporting  tours,  a  selfish 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  183 

indifference  to  the  comforts  of  their  dogs  in  some 
men,  otherwise  keen  sportsmen,  and  a  cockney- 
ish  affectation  of  noli  me  tangere,  equivalent  to 
get  out,  you  inferior  brute — in  others.  The  first 
are  those,  called  in  the  vulgar  parlance  pot- 
hunters, who,  after  Ponto  has  helped  to  fill  the 
bag,  and  shown  no  sign  of  flagging  while  there 
was  light  left  to  shoot  over  him,  unceremoniously 

d n    the    dog    and    deny    him    a    passage 

though  ten  weary  miles  may  intervene.  The 
second  are  the  dandy  cockneys ;  "  the  softly 
sprighted  men,"  who  are  so  terribly  afraid  of 
fleas  that  they  would  on  no  account  sit  in  the 
same  vehicle  with  a  dog,  and  who  ask,  in  a  voice 
like  the  ring  of  a  cracked  glass:  "How  does 
your  fallow  greyhound,  sir  ?"  Of  course  it  never 
enters  the  mind  of  either  of  these  worthy  gentle- 
men, that  the  dog,  whom  they  neglect  and  de- 
spise, is  the  nobler  animal  of  the  two,  and  that 
they  have  in  reality,  little  to  offer  against  his 
fidelity  and  devotion,  except  the  form  made  after 
the  Creator's  image.  The  intellect  of  the  one 
master  is  too  obtuse,  and  that  of  the  other  too 
much  infused  with  self-conceit,  to  dream  of  such 
a  comparison.  Nevertheless,  they  might  well 
ask  themselves,  as  a  child  did  of  a  star :  "Is  it 
truer 


184  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

It  behooves  the  sportsman  to  make  sure  that 
no  one  but  the  pilot  and  game-bearer, — who,  by 
the  way,  should  never  be  permitted  to  take  a  gun 
with  him  to  the  field,  under  any  pretence  what- 
ever— insinuates  himself  into  the  party.  If  it 
originally  consists  of  four,  it  must  of  course  be 
divided,  as  two  men  are  enough  to  hunt  in  com- 
pany over  any  cultivated  country.  It  was  our 
fortune  once,  while  shooting  in  an  adjoining 
state,  to  be  joined  by  a  party  of  country  gentle- 
men, to  the  number  of  six  or  seven,  who,  heaven 
reward  their  kindness,  though  it  certainly  was 
misplaced — had  turned  out  in  sporting  trim  to 
honor  our  advent.  Besides  Czar  and  Dash,  we 
received  a  reinforcement  of  two  fox-hounds,  one 
terrier,  one  shock-dog,  four  nondescript  curs  and 
one  poodle — a  very  respectable  pack,  each  and 
all  in  good  condifion,  and  eager,  like  their  mas- 
ters, to  take  the  field.  The  pointer  snuffed 
around  this  motley  crowd  with  high-bred  scorn, 
and  the  setter,  being  younger,  did  not  attempt  to 
conceal  his  chagrin,  but  bristled  his  back  and 
showed  his  white  teeth  at  each  of  his  strange 
field  mates  in  turn.  However,  there  was  nothing 
else  for  it,  and  out  we  went  to  the  stubbles  at 
seven  in  the  morning,  the  curs,  of  course,  taking 
the  lead.  A  covey  of  birds  were  speedily  found 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.          185 

and  scattered,  each  man  doing  his  best  to  set  on 
his  brute  in  chase,  when  the  hounds  struck  a 
trail,  and  off  they  went,  yelping  to  the  hills,  fol- 
lowed by  the  terrier  and  the  poodle,  and,  last  of 
all  by  their  masters.  The  curs  stuck  closer,  and 
it  speedily  appeared  that,  living  upon  farms 
adjoining  each  other,  they  were  no  strangers  to 
those  little  jealousies  and  petty  heart-burnings, 
which,  to  say  the  truth,  are  so  common  among 
country  folks  of  a  certain  class. 

After  considerable  preliminary  snarling  and 
wrangling,  by  a  little  judicious  management  the 
feuds  blazed  out  over  the  body  of  an  innocent 
opossum,  which  one  of  them  had  dragged  out  of 
his  hole,  and  to  it,  might  and  main,  they  went, 
all  except  the  shock-dog,  who,  belying  his  name, 
stood  barking,  aloof.  A  dog  fight  in  the  country 
when  the  combatants  happen  to  be  large,  strong 
animals,  as  was  the  case  in  this  instance,  is  an 
obstinately  contested  affair;  in  attempting  to 
separate  the  belligerents,  their  masters  became 
infected  with  the  same  pugnacious  spirit;  down 
went  guns  and  into  the  melee  went  the  country 
gentlemen  to  our  great  delight,  each  nourishing 
a  pair  of  fists  a  la  Hyer;  when,  noticing  the  opos- 
sum stealing  quietly  off,  (his  old  trick,)  we  as 
quietly  followed  his  sage  example,  and  making  for 


186  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  nearest  road,  jumped  into  a  farmer's  wagon, 
which  bore  us  and  our  four-footed  friends  some 
five  miles  off  from  the  scene  of  the  fray,  where 
we  found  birds  and  had  fair  sport. 

Having  now  entered  the  stubbles,  observe  the 

different  modes  in  which  the  dogs  proceed  to 

traverse  the  ground.     The  morning  is  calm,  clear 

and  bracing.     The  young  dog  at  once  dashes 

out  into  the  centre  of  the  field,  quartering  his 

ground  as  he  goes,  and  feathering  in  fine  style 

with  the  hoar  frost  flying  in  his  track,  while  the 

pointer,  as  usual,  directs  his  course  towards  the 

corners,  near  which  experience  has  taught  him 

the  birds  are  often  found.     He  is  not  mistaken, 

for  see  close  to  that  bunch  of  broom-corn,  near 

the  south  angle  of  the  fence,  he  stands   "fast 

fixed,"  while  the  setter,  beaten  again  in  the  first 

point  in  despite  of  his  dash,  backs  steadily  from 

the  spot  on  which  he  had  already  detected  some 

faint  effluvia  of  the  feeding  game.     The  shooters 

come  up  at  quick  step,  yet  cautiously,  each  in 

the  attitude  of  a  practised  sportsman  ;  the  covey 

is   flushed,   each    deliberately  singles   out  and 

knocks  down  his   birds ;    the    dogs  are  sent  to 

retrieve  either   by  the    command,  "  seek,  dead 

bird,"  or  by  a  simple  wave  of  the    hand;  the 

game  is  retrieved ;  the  guns  re-loaded,  and  the 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  187 

parties  proceed  to  follow  the  remainder  of  the 
covey,  which  have  flown  in  the  direction  of 
the  adjacent  woods.  Just  upon  its  edge  the 
axe  has  been  recently  at  work,  and  several 
trees,  still  covered  with  their  faded  foliage,  lie 
a  little  to  the  right  of  the  fence  in  a  line 
with  the  flight  of  the  birds.  In  this  cover  the 
covey  has  doubtless  hidden,  and  with  good 
management  a  half  dozen  shots  may  be  obtained 
on  the  spot.  "  Heed !  heed!  brave  dogs  !"  See, 
Dash  has  come  upon  a  bird  which  has  pitched 
short  of  the  cover  under  the  fence,  and  he  stops 
short  and  gives  the  never-failing  sign,  while  old 
Czar,  the  winner  of  first  blood,  backs  staunch  as 
stone.  Now  if  your  eyes  be  good,  you  may  see 
that  bird  lying  close  to  the  rail-post,  its  body 
drawn  up  into  the  smallest  compass  and  per- 
fectly motionless.  Its  white  chin  has  betrayed 
it,  and  you  can  now  distinguish  its  bright  eyes 
fixed  timidly  upon  you.  It  has  probably  struck 
the  ground  and  ran  a  yard  or  two  to  its  hiding 
place,  or  the  dogs  might  have  passed  it  by,  so 
tightly  is  the  plumage  compressed,  and  the 
wings  shut  down  over  the  odoriferous  glands, 
by  muscular  actions  induced  by  the  influence 
of  fear.  Observe  how  close  the  setter  is  to  the 
bird ;  now  just  as  a  man  holds  his  breath  when 


188  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

his  pursuers  are  near,  the  partridge  tightens  its 
skin  so  as  to  occupy  the  smallest  possible  space, 
and  in  so  doing,  if  it  lies  exactly  on  the  spot  on 
which  its  feet  first  struck,  it  will  probably  puz- 
zle the  dogs,  who  can  detect  no  effluvia  in  the 
air  or  upon  the  earth  for  obvious  reasons.  You 
may  easily  imagine  how  diiferent  is  the  case 
when  the  birds  have  left  a  trail,  or  are  feeding 
in  a  body,  with  the  scent  steaming  freely  from 
their  feathers.  The  whole  mystery  lies  in  a 
nutshell ; — up  whirs  the  bird  from  under  your 
feet — missed  clean,  by  Jove  ! — but  the  second 
barrel  riddles  him,  and  he  lies  still  short  of  the 
fallen  timber  and  close  to  the  fence.  An  old 
cock  that,  for  a  wager ; — but  charge  your  piece, 
and  let  us  at  them,  for  an  old  snipe  shooter, 
above  all  things,  detests  burning  daylight. 
Mark  how  cautiously  the  dogs  approach  the 
cover ;  now  Dash  is  pointing  the  dead  bird : 
"fetch!  so!  good  dog!" — you  that  way  and  I 
this. 

Both  dogs  point  simultaneously  on  either  side 
of  the  trees;  now,  keep  cool,  and  remember, 
that,  as  you  are  shooting  a  sixteen  guage  gun 
which  throws  her  charge  very  compactly  for 
some  distance,  you  must  give  your  birds  a  fair 
start  and  then  kill  them  clean. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  189 

"Whir!  whir!" 

"Bang!  bang!" 

Both  birds  down  ;  both  dogs  steady  as  statues ! 
Now  charge  the  empty  barrel,  and  if  a  bird 
should  rise  before  you  have  capped,  let  it  go. 
You  remember  the  pair  of  barrels  which  we 
saw  at  Krider's  last  spring,  the  left  hand  one 
rent  at  the  middle,  just  where  the  head  of  the 
rod  reached,  when  the  hasty  gentleman  fired  at 
the  snipe. 

"Ready?" 

"  All  ready." 

"  Now  kick  the  boughs  on  your  side." 

"Whir!  whir!  whir!  whir-!" 

"Bang!  bang!  bang!  bang!" 

There  goes  another — and  another,  shooting 
through  the  trees ;  they  are  the  last,  for  see  the 
dogs  are  off  their  points;  those  birds  were  killed 
in  a  style  which  reflects  credit  on  the  art ;  six 
down ;  we  will  charge,  retrieve  the  dead  birds, 
and  push  on  to  a  second  stubble-field. 

You  observe  how  long  Dash  was  in  finding 
this  bird,  although  I  knew  the  very  spot  where 
it  fell :  he  passed  and  re-passed  within  a  few 
feet  of  it  several  times  before  he  discovered  it ; 
death  having  suddenly  suspended  all  the  vital 
phenomena,  the  dog  was  in  a  similar  position  to 


190  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

the  dead  game,  as  if  he  was  hunting  for  a  live 
bird,  which,  in  the  act  of  hiding  away,  had  par- 
tially or  wholly  withheld  its  scent.  Now  let  us 
away  to  the  next  field,  for  one  half  of  the  life  of 
sporting  is  in  its  motion.  A  hard  hunter  is  most 
invariably  a  fair  shot;  but  a  fair  shot  is  not 
always  a  hard  hunter. 

Hie  on,  good  dogs. — But,  mark  yonder  fea- 
thered pirate  perched  near  the  top  of  the  tall 
tree,  on  the  edge  of  the  wheat  stubble.  He  is 
out  after  game,  too,  for  see,  he  has  a  bird  in  his 
talons,  and  feeling  perfectly  secure,  he  is  pluck- 
ing it  where  he  sits.  Is  there  no  way  of  pun- 
ishing that  fellow,  and  of  putting  a  final  period 
to  his  depredations?  Yes,  by  Jove,  there  is. 
Here  comes  the  farmer  down  the  lane  to  water 
his  horses. 

"  Good  morning,  Adam.  Do  you  see  yonder 
hen-harrier?" 

"  Ay,  I  sees  the  thief." 

"  Will  your  horses  stand  fire  ?" 

"  Ay,  here's  old  bay  Charles — he's  twenty-six 
next  grass — be  danged  if  he  doesn't  stand  a  dis- 
ruption of  'Suvius." 

"  Well  then,  we'll  put  an  end  to  that  fellow's 
forays  on  your  poultry -yard.  Jump  on  Charles, 
while  I  take  down  the  bars ;  now  guide  him  so 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  191 

as  to  pass  within  a  few  rods  of  the  tree.  I  will 
walk  on  your  off  side — the  hawk  will  not  move ; 
he  sees  only  one  thing  at  a  time,  and  he  knows 
there  is  no  harm  in  the  old  horse.  My  friend 
will  keep  the  dogs  with  him  here  at  the  fence, 
and  if  you  can  manage  to  strike  up  a  careless 
whistle,  Adam,  so  much  the  better." 

"Nay,  nay,"  said  the  old  man  in  a  cracked 
voice.  "  Fse  done  whistling  this  many  a  day 
since  my  old  dame  died ;  but,  an'  you  like,  I'll 


sing. 


"No,  no,  my  good  friend,"  I  whispered  as  we 
approached  the  tree,  "that  would  spoil  all." 
The  hawk  still  continued  to  feed,  although  I 
was  satisfied  that  he  saw  the  horse  plainly 
enough ;  once  or  twice  he  looked  down  upon  us 
as  if  in  some  distrust;  but  the  farmer  turned 
the  horse's  head  a  little  off  from  the  tree,  and 
the  bird  quietly  resumed  its  meal.  We  were 
now  close  to  the  trunk ;  Adam  checked  the 
horse,  and  raising  the  gun,  which  I  had  previ- 
ously kept  out  of  sight  as  much  as  possible,  I 
took  a  quick  aim  and  fired.  The  hawk  dropped 
but  hung  to  its  perch  with  one  foot,  while  the 
other  still  retained  its  prey. 

"  Hurrah  !"  exclaimed  the  old  man,  "give  him 
the  other  barrel,"  and  down  the  plunderer  came 


192  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

at  the  report,  tumbling  from  bough  to  bough  to 
our  feet,  where  he  lay  on  his  back  displaying 
his  spotted  belly,  barred  tail,  and  sharp  talons, 
with  the  remains  of  a  hen  partridge  in  his  grip. 
Adam  jumped  off  his  horse  and  examined  him 
with  curious  attention. 

"  Be  danged,  Mister,"  said  he,  pointing  to  the 
bird's  neck  which  was  partially  bare,  "  but  his 
head  has  been  in  one  of  my  steel  traps ;  the 
teeth  caught  in  the  bait  and  saved  him  that 
time ;  my  boys  found  the  trap  sprung  and  the 
feathers  lying  near,  and  right  glad  they'll  be 
to  see  the  thief  nailed  to  the  side  of  the  barn." 

"Ay."  said  I,  "we  dare  say,  but  Mr.  T.  and 
I  must  be  off;"  and  bidding  the  old  man  good 
morning,  we  started  for  a  neighboring  copse,  in 
which  we  suspected  the  covey  had  flown,  after 
having  been  surprised  and  scattered  by  the 
hawk.  However,  we  hunted  it  through  and 
through  without  obtaining  a  single  point,  and 
after  trying  an  old  stubble  thickly  overgrown 
with  Indian  grass,  were  about  to  push  on  in 
search  of  another  covey,  when,  as  we  approached 
a  hollow  in  which  heaps  of  brush  had  accumu- 
lated, the  old  dog  drew  suddenly  up  with  Dash 
close  in  his  rear,  and,  "here  they  are,"  said  T., 
measuring  the  distance  from  the  tree  on  which 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  193 

the  hawk  was  shot,  with  his  eye.  There  they 
were,  sure  enough,  having  crept  to  the  very 
bottom  of  the  brush-pile  through  the  dead  twigs 
and  branches.  We  had  nine  successive  shots 
before  the  dogs  stirred,  when  T.  called  them  off, 
declaring  that  he  would  not  shoot  at  another 
bird.  In  fact,  you  could  hear  them  squeak  and 
scratch  their  way  out  at  every  kick  which  we 
gave  the  pile — when,  in  the  nick  of  time,  down 
came  a  surly  countryman,  with  a  hound-cur  and 
a  friend  at  his  heels,  and  ordered  us  off.  The 
man  was  at  first  decidedly  wolfish,  and  half  in- 
clined to  create  a  row,  but  the  suavity  of  T.  and 
the  inimitable  manner  in  which  he  weathered 
upon  him  as  soon  as  he  found  out  his  name, 
claiming  relationship — by  Adam's  side,  I  sup- 
pose— and  introducing  his  liquor-flask  into  the 
discussion  in  his  fine,  off-hand  way,  put  the  man 
in  decent  humor  at  last.  The  other  fellow,  how- 
ever, fought  shy.  He  was  a  shrewd,  lantern- 
jawed,  cat-eyed,  close-fisted  clodhopper;  setting 
his  cunning  avaricious  orbs  on  T.'s  face,  for  a 
time  he  listened  with  an  occasional  smirk,  to  his 
rigmarole,  whittling  a  stick  the  while,  and  turn- 
ing up  his  nose  at  the  dogs.  I  was  inclined  to 
let  him  alone,  thinking  that  he  was  too  much  for 
me,  when,  after  moistening  his  throat  with  such 


194  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

whiskey  as  he  had  never  tasted  before  in 
a  dream,  he  opened  his  oracular  jaws  and 
spake : 

"  Do  you  ever  shoot  gray  snipe  ?"  said  he. 

"Why, -yes,  sometimes  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  when  there  is  nothing  else  to  hunt,  you 
know,"  answered  T.,  while  I  silently  pricked  up 
my  ears. 

"Waal,"  said  the  other,  "I  didn't  know; 
there's  heaps  on  'em  on  my  place." 

"  Indeed,"  answered  T.,  "  try  another  dash  of 
that  whiskey — snipe  are  strange  birds ;  here  to- 
day and  off  to-morrow.  Your  land  lies  well, 
Mr.  Sluicedam." 

"  I  s'pose,  squire,"  said  Mr.  Sluicedam's  cute 
friend,  screwing  up  his  eyes  and  recovering  his 
breath  after  a  long  drink,  "  when  you  goes  out 
arter  partridges,  you  goes  out  arter  partridges, 
and  when  you  goes  out  arter  snipe,  you  goes  out 
arter  snipe — eigh?" 

"  Something  in  that  way,  I  confess,"  answered 
T.  "  The  fact  is,  you  see,  Mr  Sluicedam,  I 
don't  overlike  the  water  myself,  and  my  friend 
there  had  as  soon  take  a  kick  from  a  weaned  colt 
as  get  his  feet  wet.  We  don't  get  out  often,  but 
when  you  and  your  friend  happen  to  be  in  the 
city,  I  hope  you  will  give  us  a  call ;"  and  taking 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.          195 

his  boot  maker's  card  from  his  pocket  he  presented 
it  with  his  usual  grace.  We  then  prepared  to 
move  on,  when,  in  spite  of  a  peculiar  glance  from 
T.'s  eye,  I  determined  to  put  the  question : 

"  Is  that  your  land  which  adjoins  Mr.  Sluice- 
dam's?"  said  I  carelessly. 

»/ 

"Why,  no,"  said  he,  with  a  grin,  "it  ain't, 
by  a  long  shot.  It  wouldn't  be  no  manner  of 
use  to  tell  you  where  my  place  be,  you  know, 
since  you  both  hate  water  so.  Good  mornin' 
gentlemen." 

"  Hang  the  fellow  !"  I  exclaimed. 

"N'importe"  said  T.,  "I  have  his  outlines; 
here,  hold  my  gun  for  a  moment,  I'll  fill  them 
up  while  the  impression  is  fresh."  Taking  pen- 
cil and  paper  from  his  pocket,  he  set  down  on  a 
stump,  and  with  a  few  bold  strokes  and  scientific 
dashes,  executed  so  felicitous  a  caricature  of 
the  countryman,  that  I  could  not  but  smile  at 
the  likeness.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "we  will  show 
this  to  our  jolly  host;  he  will  recognize  it  at 
once,  and  if  we  are  not  among  our  friend's  gray 
snipe  to-morrow  betimes,  we  will  give  him 
liberty  to  call  us  gray  geese." 

"  But  the  first  shot  will  bring  the  fellow  out 
upon  us,"  said  I. 

"  No,"   said  he,  laughing,  "for  cousin  Sluice- 


1%  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

dam  let  it  ooze  out,  that  his  friend  and  his  family 
were  on  a  visit  to  his  place,  to  stay  over  Sun- 
day." 

"Then,"  said  I,  "  he's  had,  confound  him, 
and  I  shall  knock  down  his  snipe  with  all  the 
greater  satisfaction." 

"  He  must  live  well  inland,"  remarked  T., 
carefully  putting  up  the  portrait,  "  I  never  saw 
him  before ;  and  I'll  wager  now  the  birds  lie  in 
some  tussocky  meadow,  or  reedy  marsh,  along 
the  bank  of  a  creek." 

"  Or  in  a  wet  stubble-field,  most  likely," 
said  I. 

"True,"  said  he.  "But  send  out  the  dogs, 
let  us  kill  partridges  to-day  and  snipe  to-morrow; 
though  how  any  sportsmen  can  compare  the  two 
kinds  of  shooting,  rather  puzzles  me  to  imagine." 

In  a  few  moments  the  dogs  pointed  in  a  buck- 
wheat field,  oil  the  edge  of  a  corn  stubble,  and 
after  obtaining  a  double  shot  apiece,  we  fol- 
lowed them  into  an  orchard,  where  T.  shot  a 
cock  bird  out  of  the  low  crotch  of  an  apple  tree. 
They  then  pitched  into  a  hedge  along  the  steep 
bank  of  a  run,  with  a  low,  swampy  meadow  on 
the  further  side.  Here  we  killed  them  singly  at 
leisure,  until  we  had  pretty  well  thinned  the 
covey. 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  197 

It  was  now  near  noon,  and  after  pausing  to 
refresh  ourselves  at  a  spring,  we  debated  the 
propriety  of  fleeting  away  an  hour  or  two  in  a 
sunny  hollow  out  of  the  wind,  and  although  the 
vote  was  unanimous  to  keep  quiet  until  the  birds 
had  returned  to  the  stubbles,  yet  such  is  the 
restless  desire  to  keep  moving,  which  a  man  im- 
bibes in  the  marshes,  that  the  decision  was  soon 
reversed  with  equal  unanimity,  and  resuming 
our  guns,  we  pushed  on. 

We  will  now  take  occasion  to  observe  to  the 
general  reader,  that  at  this  hour  of  the  day  the 
birds  are  most  difficult  to  find,  each  covey  hav- 
ing retired  to  some  out  of  the  way  part  of  the 
farm  which  it  inhabits,  where  it  lies  in  a  com- 
paratively small  compass,  basking,  pruning  and 
dusting,  precisely  like  chickens  in  the  barnyard 
or  garden  on  a  sunny  day,  after  their  crops  are 
filled. 

The  flight  of  the  partridge  from  the  stubbles, 
or  the  drinking-place,  is  generally  direct  to  the 
pruning  place,  so  that  the  dogs  can  find  no  clue 
to  the  spot,  though,  occasionally,  a  sagacious 
animal,  falling  back  upon  his  experience,  will 
lead  directly  to  the  haunt.  This  is  either  on 
the  edge  of  a  copse  of  young  trees,  in  which  the 
sun's  ray  penetrates — under  the  lee  of  a  gravelly 
13 


198  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

hill — in  a  sheltered  hollow  fringed  with  a  few 
scattered  bushes,  or  under  a  large  bush  in  a 
boggy  meadow,  and  we  have  even  found  them 
in  a  rough,  stony  country,  huddled  in  the  hol- 
low of  a  large  stump.  In  stormy  weather  they 
retire  into  the  woods,  in  which  situations  we 
have  flushed  them  from  under  a  thick  cedar 
bush.  On  the  day  in  question,  the  first  point 
after  we  left  the  spring,  occurred  in  a  line  of 
thick  grass  close  to  a  rail  fence.  The  birds 
flew  from  thence  into  an  open  woods,  and  the 
covey  being  a  very  full  one,  we  had  considerable 
sport  in  picking  up  the  scattered  birds.  In  hunt- 
ing up  these,  T.  bagged  a  woodcock  and  a  ruffed 
grouse,  the  first  over  a  point  by  the  setter,  while 
the  last  sprang  at  the  report  of  his  gun  dis- 
charged at  a  partridge,  and  was  wing-tipped,  at 
a  long  shot,  with  the  second  barrel. 

A  circumstance  attended  the  retrieving  of  this 
bird,  which  went  far  to  show  some  traits  in  the 
disposition  of  the  pointer  dog,  Czar.  It  was  shot 
from  the  edge  of  a  ravine  in  the  woods,  and  fell 
among  the  thick  brush  at  the  bottom.  I  was 
then  in  full  sight  of  my  companion,  with  Czar 
hunting  on  the  brink  of  the  broken  ground  in  ad- 
vance. Contrary  to  the  dog's  custom  and  regu- 
lar rule  of  training,  at  the  report  of  T.'s  gun,  he 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  199 

started  down  the  side  of  the  ravine  at  a  run,  but 
turned  and  came  in  at  the  sound  of  the  whistle, 
dropping  his  stern  rather  sulkily  as  I  thought. 
The  setter  was  sent  into  the  ravine,  but  after  a 
long  hunt  was  unable  to  find  the  bird.  I  then 
directed  the  pointer  "  to  seek  dead  bird,"  but  he 
refused  to  go  out,  and  showed  his  teeth  when 
corrected,  for  which  he  received  a  sound  thrash- 
ing. We  then  sent  both  dogs  out  again,  and 
descended  into  the  ravine,  the  sides  and  bottom 
of  which  were  covered  with  brush.  After  search- 
ing for  the  grouse  for  some  moments,  we  gave  it 
up  and  climbed  the  opposite  side.  When  we 
had  advanced  about  a  hundred  yards  deeper 
in  the  woods,  Czar  suddenly  turned  back  at  full 
gallop  and  in  a  few  minutes  came  to  my  side 
with  the  bird  fluttering  in  his  mouth.  He  had, 
no  doubt,  observed  it  fall  in-  the  first  place,  as  he 
had  probably  seen  hundreds  fall  before,  but  why 
he  should  show  any  desire  to  retrieve  it  before 
he  was  ordered,  unless  he  had  noticed  that  it 
was  merely  winged,  was  the  puzzle.  His  sulki- 
ness  and  impatience  of  correction,  both  of  which 
were  unusual,  inclined  me  strongly  to  think  that 
this  was  actually  the  case  ;  and  when  the  bird 
was  found  in  the  manner  related,  my  friend  and 
I  were  confirmed  in  our  belief.  As  T.  remarked 


200  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

at  the  time,  it  was  one  of  those  chance  looks  into 
a  dog's  heart  which  a  man  is  not  favored  with 
every  season. 

We  found  four  coveys  before  sundown,  and 
came  in  at  night  pretty  well  fagged,  with  twenty- 
five  brace  and  an  odd  bird,  exclusive  of  the  cock 
and  the  grouse.  On  this  day's  excursion,  on  the 
tenth  of  November,  we  did  not  meet  with  a 
single  covey  of  birds  which  were  not  fully 
fledged. 

The  first  thing  now  to  be  attended  to,  after 
swallowing  a  glass  of  hot  rum-punch  and  a 
cracker,  is  to  examine  the  dog's  feet,  wash  them 
with  whiskey ;  then  see  the  animals  well  fed 
and  housed,  with  an  abundance  of  water  at  their 
command.  The  game  is  then  to  be  strung  and 
hung  out  in  a  secure  place,  and  the  barrels  of 
the  guns  wrashed  out.  This  being  done  you 
may  then  retire  to  your  room,  wash  and  change; 
and,  curious  as  it  may  seem  to  the  uninitiated, 
descend  to  the  dining-room,  a  veritable  novus 
homo,  a  genuine  new  man,  with  an  excellent 
appetite  for  the  substantial  repast,  which  the 
host  is  careful  to  prepare  for  the  sportsman.  If 
ever  a  man  enters  into  the  heart  of  his  dinner,  so 
to  speak,  it  is  after  a  day's  hunt,  when  the  juicy 
tenderness  of  a  beef-steak  melts  through  and 


PAKTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  201 

through  him,  and  the  flavor  of  a  wild  duck, — if 
he  is  lucky  enough  to  have  it  on  the  board, — 
leaves  a  sort  of  twang  on  the  palate,  which  the 
prince  of  gourmands  might  envy.  We  have  a 
friend  who  never  tastes  shad  but  once  during 

o 

the  season,  and  that  is  on  his  first  snipe  shooting 
excursion  in  the  spring.  The  remembrance  of 
that  shad,  taken  out  of  the  river  in  front  of  the 
house  where  he  generally  puts  up,  lasts  him 
during  the  year,  and  he  is  always  anxious  to  be 
off  on  the  succeeding  spring,  that  he  may  taste 
another. 

After  dinner  you  may  have  a  glass  of  punch, 
a  chat,  or  a  rubber  of  whist,  if  the  party  be  large 
enough,  and  then  to  bed.  Before  retiring,  T. 
showed  his  portrait  of  the  countryman  to  our 
host,  who,  after  he  had  heard  the  circumstances 
of  the  meeting,  recognized  it  at  once,  and  laugh- 
ing heartily,  readily  put  us  on  the  track  of  the 
snipe  preserve,  assuring  us  that  the  fellow  was 
one  of  the  veriest  churls  and  most  renowned  skin- 
flints in  the  state. 

"  I  can't  tell  exactly  where  snipe  harbor  on 
his  lands,"  said  he,  "  for  he  lives  several  miles 
inland  from  the  shore,  but  it  is  off  the  road  about 
a  half  a  mile  back  from  the  brick  mill.  Of 
course,  your  dogs  can't  miss  finding  them,  if 


202  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

they  are  there,  and  I  hope  you  won't  leave  a 
bird  on  the  place.  You  must  look  out  for  his 
dog  if  you  go  near  the  house,  for  they  say  he  is 
as  savage  as  a  Turk,  and  as  ready  to  fight  as 
Paul  Jones." 

The  next  morning  we  were  on  the  road  by 
sunrise,  and  after  an  hour's  drive  came  to  the 
mill,  where  we  had  the  horse  put  up,  and  started 
over  the  fields  at  once.  After  some  travelling 
over  very  unpromising  ground,  we  suddenly 
came  upon  a  sunken  corn-field  of  black  loam, 
with  the  stalks  left  standing  and  a  gleam  of  water 
in  the  furrows. 

"  Whist !"  exclaimed  T.,  pointing  to  the  house 
which  was  within  two  hundred  yards,  "here  is 
the  ground,  let  us  lose  no  time." 

Accordingly,  we  crossed  the  fence  and  entered 
at  different  points,  each  dog  drawing  steadily  on 
in  advance,  with  the  scent  blowing  full  in  his 
nostrils.  In  this  way  they  worked  up  to  the 
game,  when — "  Scheep  !  scheep  !"  up  flittered 
the  little  gray  imps,  ten  or  twelve  on  a  fly,  and 
down  again,  scarce  twenty  yards  off,  apparently 
regardless  of  the  reports,  and  showing  little  dis- 
position to  leave  the  ground.  Observing  this,  I 
reduced  my  charges,  and  soon  found  that  T. 
had  done  the  same.  And  now  was  seen,  to  the 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  203 

very  best  advantage,  the  admirable  qualities  of  a 
crack  snipe  dog.  If  both  animals  had  not  been 
under  perfect  command,  and  gun-wise  in  every 
respect,  the  birds  would  have  soon  collected  in  a 
body,  and  left  the  place  for  a  long  flight,  as  we 
knew  of  no  snipe  ground,  except  this  twenty- 
acre  field,  for  miles  around.  But  by  keeping  a 
few  paces  in  front,  dropping  at  every  shot,  and 
advancing  as  slowly  as  a  dead  march,  when  they 
heard  the  click  of  the  gun-locks,  while  their  mas- 
ters were  careful  to  keep  perfectly  silent,  the 
snipe  were  little  alarmed,  and  we  had  half  of 
them  down  before  they  rose  higher  in  the  wind 
than  our  heads,  seeming,  as  they  darted  up  with 
their  usual  weird  cry,  and  alit  a  few  rods  off,  to 
be  too  busily  engaged  in  feeding  to  regard  us 
in  any  other  light,  than  peevish  interlopers,  who 
would  persist  in  coming  between  them  and  their 
gnome-like  operations  on  the  moist  earth.  It  is 
well  known  to  sportsmen,  especially  ( to  snipe 
shooters,  that  the  voice  of  a  man,  or  the  miscon- 
duct of  a  half-broken  dog,  will  do  more  to  scare 
game  away  from  a  feeding  ground,  than  the 
sound  of  the  guns,  and  that  if  the  shooters  move 
silently  and  slowly  on,  regulating  their  charges 
in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  the  cover,  and  the 
proximity  with  which  the  birds  spring,  it  is 


204  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

next  to  impossible  to  drive  snipe,  found  in  par- 
ticular situations,  from  their  feed,  before  their 
numbers  are  pretty  well  thinned.  In  the  happy 
observance  of  these  rules  by  the  shooter  and  his 
dogs,  consists,  in  our  opinion,  the  perfection  of 
the  art,  that  the  one  should  know  how  to  follow 
up  his  game,  and  the  other  to  be  either  as  slow  as 
a  tortoise  or  as  fleet  as  the  wind,  just  as  the  occa- 
sion may  demand.  In  more  than  one  instance 
has  the  sportsman  arrived  on  the  ground,  and 
found  it  dried  up,  especially  in  a  vast  range  of 
flat  meadow  land ;  when  by  sending  out  a  fleet 
dog  he  has,  perhaps,  seen  him  on  a  stand,  or 
marked  water  fly  from  his  feet  at  a  great  dis- 
tance; and  upon  coming  up,  lo!  here  is  a  wet 
spot,  with  a  cover  of  dead  reeds,  perhaps  the  only 
one  to  be  found  for  miles  around — and  here  he 
has  often  killed  from  thirty  to  forty  birds.  And 
how  often,  on  the  other  hand,  has  the  sportsman, 
who  from  culpable  carelessnes,  or  a  mistaken 
spirit  of  economy,  is  content  to  go  out  with  a 
heedless,  half-broken  dog,  had  his  temper  tried 
and  his  day's  shooting  spoilt,  by  seeing  the  birds 
driven  off  before  he  has  obtained  a  half  a  dozen 
shots. 

A  pottering  pointer  or  a  setter  that  habitually 
rakes,   or  carries  his  nose  low,  no  matter  how 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  205 

staunch,  he  may  be,  is  infinitely  inferior  to  a 
free,  up-headed,  thorough-broken,  fast-going  dog 
of  either  stock,  and  such  a  dog  at  any  time  should 
command  a  price,  of  from  eighty-five  to  a  hundred 
dollars.  But  when  gentlemen  object,  as  is  often 
the  case,  to  paying  the  price,  after  having  made 
a  fair  trial  of  the  animal,  it  is  not  strange  that 
for  one  really  good  dog  in  our  large  cities,  you 
will  find  fifty  that  will  break  shot — run  in  upon 
a  point — prove  gun-foolish  in  the  field,  and  in 
fact  show  nothing  of  the  true  sporting  dog,  ex- 
cept his  instinctive  qualities  of  finding  and  point- 
ing game.  There  are  men  of  good  knowledge  in 
sporting  affairs,  who  have  attempted  to  break 
dogs  in  a  proper  way  ;  but  the  little  encourage- 
ment given  to  them  by  the  public  has  thrown 
the  business  almost  entirely  into  the  hands  of 
market-shooters,  who,  of  all  classes  of  men,  prove 
the  very  worst  masters,  into  whose  hands  a  pro- 
mising young  dog  can  possibly  fall.  However, 
as  sporting  is  largely  on  the  increase  among  us, 
no  doubt,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  evil  will 
remedy  itself.  In  the  meantime,  never  purchase 
a  dog  without  trying  him  yourself,  especially  if 
he  is  offered  at  a  reduced  price. 

We  had  gradually  driven  the  remainder  of 
the  birds  into  a  part  of  the  field  nearest  to  the 


206  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

house,  when,  as  I  fired  at  a  snipe  which  rose  in 
front  of  me,  I  observed  the  farmer's  dog  coming 
down  the  slope  at  full  speed,  and  had  barely  time 
to  whistle  in  Czar,  before  the  enraged  brute 
dashed  into  a  run  between  us,  struggled  through 
its  oozy  sides  and  came  at  me  open  mouthed.  I 
presented  the  muzzle  of  the  gun,  which  he 
eagerly  seized,  trying  his  teeth  upon  it  several 
times,  though  I  forbore  to  fire  the  remaining 
barrel,  savage  as  he  seemed,  with  his  fierce  eyes, 
cropt  ears,  broad,  bull-terrier  head,  and  jaws  like 
those  of  a  wolf  trap.  I  was  more  afraid  of  his 
getting  hold  Czar,  who  had,  himself,  a  small 
spice  of  Satan  in  his  composition,  when  suddenly 
he  wheeled  about,  keeping  all  the  time  perfectly 
mute,  save  a  hyena  snarl,  and  re-crossing  the  run, 
waded  through  the  mud  and  leisurely  ascended 
the  hill.  Re-loading  the  empty  barrel,  I  ad- 
vanced still  nearer  the  house  and  fired  again, 
when  down  came  old  Blucher  a  second  time, 
passed  the  stream  with  the  same  fierce  pertina- 
city, and  again  tries  his  teeth  on  *my  stub  and 
twist.  This  time  I  could  not  forbear  laughing 
in  his  face,  which  made  him  more  furious  than 
ever,  though  he  made  no  attempt  to  get  at  me 
or  the  dog,  but  contented  himself  with  wreaking 
his  wrath  on  the  gun-barrel,  against  which  he 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  207 

appeared  to  have  some  especial  pique.  In  a 
minute  or  two  he  retreated  as  before,  again  tak- 
ing his  station  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  ap- 
parently keeping  a  sharp  look-out.  At  the  very 
next  shot,  down  he  came  the  third  time,  when, 
instead  of  forming  a  square  to  receive  him,  I 
broke  into  an  uncontrolable  fit  of  laughter,  which 
so  enraged  T.,  who  had  come  up  in  the  mean- 
time, that  he  levelled  his  piece  at  his  head,  and 
would  have  put  a  stop  to  his  peregrinations  for- 
ever, but  for  my  earnest  entreaties  to  do  him  no 
harm.  He  soon  returned  to  his  post  of  observa- 
tion, and  we  afterwards  learned  from  a  near 
neighbor  of  the  farmer's,  that  the  mere  report  of 
a  gun  was  sufficient  to  arouse  his  fiercest  ire, 
which  circumstance  was  attributed  to  his  having 
accidentally  been  shot  a  year  or  two  before.  On 
the  succeeding  fall  a  party  from  the  city  got 
into  trouble  about  the  same  dog,  one  of  them 
having  shot  him  dead,  while  charging  him  like 
a  perfect  fury  in  a  stubble-field. 

Having  killed  thirty  odd  brace  of  snipe  in  the 
corn-field,  and  along  the  run,  we  were  returning 
to  the  mill  by  the  lane,  when  we  encountered 
Mr.  Sluicedam's  friend  and  his  family  returning 
home  from  their  visit,  and  a  pretty  rage  the  man 
flew  into  when  he  spied  the  birds  in  the  netting, 


208  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

for  we  carried  game-bags  in  those  days.  He 
checked  his  horse  at  once',  and  exasperated  by  a 
look  of  triumph  which  I  could  not  forbear, 
jumped  from  his  wagon  and  confronted  us. 

"  Who  gave  you  liberty  to  shoot  over  these 
grounds  ?"  he  began,  while  the  miller  who  was 
with  him,  also  alighted,  and  the  old  lady  and  the 
little  ones  thrust  their  curious  faces  out  of  the 
vehicle,  in  expectation  of  a  grand  row. 

"  Why,"  says  T.,  in  his  blandest  way,  "  did 
not  you,  yourself,  tell  us  that  the  birds  were 
here?" 

"  Yes,  I  did,"  he  replied,  working  himself  up 
as  if  he  found  it  difficult  to  stand  our  friend's 
manner  and  something  in  his  eye,  "  but  I  did 
not  tell  you  to  come  after  them — dang  it !" 

"  My  good  fellow,"  returned  T.,  with  greater 
suavity  than  before,  "  when  next  you  have 
game  on  your  place,  if  you  wish  to  preserve  them, 
let  me  caution  you  against  showing  even  so 
much  as  their  tail-coverts  to  an  old  snipe 
shooter.  Good  morning !" 

So  saying  he  moved  on  and  I  followed,  touch- 
ing my  hat  to  the  dame,  and  leaving  the  two 
countrymen  standing  stock  still  in  the  lane,  as 
mute  as  mile-stones.  The  next  day  we  returned 
to  the  city  and  have  heard  nothing  of  Mr.  Sluice- 
dam  and  his  friend  since. 


PARTKIDGE  SHOOTING.  209 

Nothing  satisfactory  is  yet  known  respecting  trie 
cause  which  impels  the  partridge  to  shift  its  lo- 
cality, for  a  few  weeks,  during  what  is  commonly 
called  the  running  season.  These  movements  oc- 
cur in  October  and  the  first  week  in  November, 
generally  in  companies  considerably  exceeding 
the  usual  number  of  the  respective  coveys,  and 
are  observed  to  be  directed  from  the  north- 
west towards  the  sea-board,  and  the  low  grounds 
along  the  large  water-courses.  Possibly,  they 
may  be  governed  by  an  instinctive  desire  for 
some  unknown  species  of  food,  only  to  be  found 
in  these  latter  districts.  The  little  travellers, 
like  the  devotees  of  old,  literally  perform  their 
annual  pilgrimage  barefoot,  merely  making  use 
of  their  wings  to  cross  such  streams  as  occur  in 
their  route,  and  running  with  such  amazing 
swiftness,  when  encountered  by  man,  as  to 
make  it  difficult  to  overtake  and  flush  them, 
even  with  a  fleet  dog.  We  have  frequently  met 
them  crossing  the  roads  in  great  numbers,  and 
at  other  times  observed  them  running  through 
the  streets  of  towns  and  villages,  and  even  upon 
the  house-tops,  before  sun-rise.  The  same 
periodical  movements  have  been  noticed  in  the 
ruffed  grouse  and  the  wild  turkey,  and  a  few 
years  since  a  small  flock  of  the  latter  made  their 


210  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

appearance  on  the  Susquehanna,  as  low  down 
as  Port  Deposit.  The  pilgrimage  is  said  to  ter- 
minate in  the  return  of  the  birds  to  their  native 
haunts,  and  their  re-division  into  coveys  of  from 
eight  or  ten  to  fifteen  or  twenty. 

In  regard  to  the  companies  of  confirmed  old 
bachelors,  asserted  by  Forrester  to  have  been 
found  in  the  family  of  the  American  partridge, 
it  is  our  misfortune,  claiming  as  we  do,  to  be- 
long to  the  distinguished  fraternity,  never  to 
have  encountered  these  feathered  odd-fellows. 
In  the  crowded  English  preserves,  according  to 
the  statement  of  various  old  writers,  such  socie- 
ties do  actually  exist,  and  these  old  cocks  do 
incontinently  wage  war  upon  the  young  ones, 
partly  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  their  privacy, 
undisturbed  by  ridiculous  affairs  of  gallantry, 
which  they  have  long  ago  found  to  be  mere 
vanity  and  vexation  of  soul,  and  partly  from  a 
delectable  spirit  of  moroseness  which,  thank 
heaven,  every  bachelor  beneath  the  stars,  has 
an  undisputed  right  to  affect,  whenever  he 
sees  fit.  We  are,  certainly,  much  indebted 
to  Mr.  Herbert's  penetration  in  discovering 
these  little  isolated  communities  of  Benedicts, 
which  still  endure  in  the  midst  of  gynarchies, 
and  whose  habits  tally  so  remarkably  with 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  211 

those  of  the  English  partridge,  as  described  by 
Mr.  Daniel  and  other  veteran  sportsmen.  Some 
cavillers  might  hint  that  Forrester  had  taken 
the  British  accounts  and  applied  them  in  a  slap- 
dash way  to  the  American  bird ;  for  our  own 
part,  whenever  we  may  chance  to  meet  the 
odd-fellows  parading  in  the  badges  of  their 
order,  during  the  season  when  the  rest  of  the 
species  are  divided  into  pairs,  and  attending 
to  family  duties,  we  shall  not  fail  to  extend  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship  towards  them,  in  the 
shape  of  one  of  Krider's  stub  and  twist.  Until 
that  time,  not  wishing  to  be  too  hasty  in  con- 
clusions, we  reserve  our  opinion.  We  do  not, 
however,  believe  that  the  disproportion  between 
the  males  and  females  is  so  great  as  is  repre- 
sented by  some  writers ;  that  a  plurality  of 
males  does  exist  in  the  broods  is  not  denied ; 
but  we  think  that  even  the  English  accounts 
are  exaggerated  in  this  respect,  especially  as  an 
error  has  seemed  to  have  been  at  one  time 
prevalent  in  that  country,  in  reference  to  the 
markings  of  the  male  and  female  bird. 

In  its  character  the  American  partridge  is 
lively  and  courageous,  very  impatient  of  con- 
finement, and  attached  in  a  remarkable  degree 
to  the  locality  in  which  it  is  bred.  Whether 


212  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

from  old  associations  or  something  in  their  ap- 
pearance and  habits,  there  is  a  feeling  akin  to 
sweet  and  innocent  fellowship  involved  in  the 
presence  of  these  birds  on  a  country  homestead. 
The  simplicity  of  their  wonted,  mellow  call, 
falls  soothingly  upon  the  ear  in  the  pleasant 
summer  time,  and 

"  When  icicles  hang  by  the  \vall," 

and  the  field  is  wrapped  in  its  mantle  of  white, 
one  might  almost  imagine  a  religious  sentiment 
connected  with  their  appearance  in  the  barn- 
yard, or  the  print  of  their  tiny  feet  in  the  snow, 
as  if  they  were  the  fowls  of  the  air  mentioned 
in  Holy  Writ,  and  as  such  must  be  fed  for  a 
little  season.  In  conclusion,  we  could  heartily 
wish  that  the  few  coveys  which  have  survived 
the  severity  of  the  winters  of  fifty -one  and  two, 
might  be  allowed  to  recruit  their  diminished 
numbers  in  peace,  for  several  successive  seasons. 
We  shall  conclude  this  article  with  a  brief 
sketch  of  Hark,  a  celebrated  setter  dog,  the  pro- 
perty of  L.  de  la  Cuesta,  Esq.,  of  this  city. 
This  dog  is  of  imported  stock,  and  bears  so  close 
a  resemblance  to  an  engraving  of  Beau  in  the 
third  volume  of  Mr.  Daniel's  Rural  Sports  of 
England,  that  the  likeness  of  one  dog.  taken 
more  than  a  half  a  century  since,  might  tri- 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.         213 

umphantly  pass  at  the  present  day  for  that  of 
the  other. 

Hark  was  bred  by  a  Mr.  Robinson  of  Wil- 
mington, Delaware,  and  came  into  his  present 
owner's  possession  at  the  age  of  ten  months. 
At  that  time  he  was  a  rough,  rugged-looking 
puppy,  and  first  attracted  notice  by  the  steadi- 
ness and  sagacity  which  he  displayed  on  the 
snipe  grounds.  After  purchasing  him  from  Mr. 
Robinson,  Mr.  Cuesta  was  induced  to  bestow 
unusual  attention  to  his  training,  and  he  sub- 
sequently became  a  very  superior  animal.  Like 
his  counterpart  of  old, — from  whom  he  may, 
possibly,  be  descended, — he  was  equally  excel- 
lent on  all  varieties  of  game,  and  as  a  snipe  dog 
was,  perhaps,  never  excelled.  He  is  of  a  large 
size,  very  roughly  coated,  of  a  white  color,  the 
ears  dashed  with  dark  red  spots.  In  his  best 
days  he  was  hunted  with  Poke,  a  liver-colored 
pointer  belonging  to  the  same  gentleman,  and 
also  a  capital  field  dog.  As  a  proof  of  the 
staunchness  of  Hark,  he  has  been  repeatedly 
left  pointing  partridges,  while  the  sportsman 
crossed  the  fence  to  shoot  over  Poke,  who  had 
found  a  second  covey  in  an  adjoining  field. 
The  first  dog  was  always  discovered  at  his  post 
on  the  shooter's  return.  It  was  only  necessary 
14 


214  KRIDE1VS  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

for  his  master  to  speak  to  him  in  the  first  in- 
stance, to  ensure  this,  after  an  absence  of  nearly 
an  hour,  and  if  found  lying  on  the  ground,  he 
would  rise  and  resume  his  true  professional 
attitude  as  the  parties  approached.  He  was  a 
capital  retriever  and  an  expert  swimmer.  It 
was,  probably,  owing  to  his  docility  in  lying 
close  when  so  ordered,  that  the  lives  of  the 
editor  and  a  friend  were  not  endangered,  when 
crossing  the  Delaware  in  a  skiff  during  a 
south-easterly  blow.  Had  he  destroyed  the 
equilibrium  of  the  boat,  by  shifting  his  posi- 
tion as  the  water  dashed  over  him,  she  must 
have  inevitably  filled  in  the  middle  of  the 
river. 

In  hunting  ruffed  grouse  he  displayed  great 
skill  and  sagacity,  watching  and  taking  the 
direction  in  which  the  pack  flew,  though  he 
never  acquired  that  curious  propensity  which 
we  have  seen  manifested  by  some  field  dogs,  to 
give  tongue  the  instant  that  the  birds  are  sprung, 
and  marking  the  tree  on  which  they  often  alight 
at  this  challenge,  continue  the  clamors  at  its 
foot,  until  half  the  pack  is  shot  down.  In  this 
case  the  infatuation  of  the  grouse,  and  its  inat- 
tention to  the  approach  of  the  shooter  and  even 
to  the  reports  of  his  gun,  are  more  strikingly  dis- 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  215 

played  than  in  any  of  the  instances  previously 
adduced.*  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  have 
very  sharp  eyes,  or  you  will  fail  to  discover  the 
birds,  and  to  shoot  the  lower  ones  first,  as  the 
rustle  attending  their  fall  through  the  branches 
of  the  tree,  breaks  the  force  of  the  spell,  and 
enables  the  rest  to  escape.  We  have  never  seen 
this  mode  of  shooting  grouse  succeed,  except  in 
the  month  of  September  when  the  birds  are 
young,  though  we  have  repeatedly  been  assured 
by  farmers,  that  they  have  killed  old  birds 
under  precisely  similar  circumstances. 

Ruffed  grouse  shooting  is  generally  laborious 
and  unsatisfactory  work,  though,  as  a  variety, 
we  have  sometimes  enjoyed  a  half  a  day's  sport 
in  the  rugged  hills  of  Bucks  and  Montgomery, 


*  They  sit  upon  the  large  limbs  near  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  turn- 
ing their  heads  from  side  to  side,  precisely  as  the  chicken  has  been 
observed  to  do  under  similar  circumstances,  and  gazing  down  in 
amazement  at  the  dog,  which  animal  would  appear  to  exert  as 
powerful  an  influence  over  the  birds  through  the  medium  of  his 
voice,  as  he  does  over  water-fowl  by  his  antics  on  the  shore.  Had 
these  mysterious  powers  of  fascination  been  observed  in  the  cat, 
they  would  have  went  far  to  establish  her  supposed  connection 
with  witches  and  warlocks,  the  first  suspicions  of  which,  no  doubt, 
rose  out  of  her  still  and  wierd-like  gravity  of  demeanor.  Tray's 
spirit,  however,  shines  too  clearly  through  his  clay  for  him  ever  to 
be  accused  of  leaning  to  the  black  art. 


216  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

where  a  few  broods  still  linger.  Within  our 
recollection,  however,  they  have  entirely  disap- 
peared from  sections  of  the  country,  where  they 
were  once  often  met  with.  They  afford  more 
sport  in  September,  when  the  young  birds  are 
fully  grown,  and  in  this  month  we  have  occa- 
sionally found  them  in  fresh  buckwheat  stub- 
bles, and  in  plantations  of  young  trees,  in  close 
proximity  to  the  woody  and  precipitous  bank  of 
a  stream.  On  the  farm  of  an  eccentric  old 
bachelor,  dubbed  by  his  neighbors  in  the  upper 
part  of  Montgomery,  King  John,  these  birds 
once  bred  in  undisturbed  security.  The  old 
fellow  was  peculiar  in  his  habits,  and  had  not 
slept  from  under  the  roof  of  his  homestead,  for 
fifty  years.  He  suffered  a  large  part  of  his  farm 
to  lie  untilled,  and  never  allowed  a  gun  to  be 
fired  on  his  premises,  except  the  venerable  fowl- 
ing piece,  which,  in  imitation  of  ancient  usages, 
he  regularly  discharged  from  his  kitchen  door 
at  sundown,  to  let  the  wicked  world  within 
hearing  know,  that,  as  usual,  he  was  at  home. 
His  house  stood  upon  a  hill,  one  side  of  which 
was  precipitous,  and  covered  with  cedars,  oaks 
and  laurels;  on  this  side,  a  steep  and  broken 
path,  known  as  the  Devil's  staircase,  led  down 
to  a  mill-dam,  on  which  we  have  occasionally 


PARTRIDGE  SHOOTING.  217 

shot  black  duck  and  teal,  in  spite  of  King 
John's  taboo.  As  to  the  grouse  which  in- 
habited the  woody  side  of  the  creek,  gentle 
reader,  they  went,  where  and  how  you  must 
invoke  the  shades  of  Toby  and  Carlo  to  de- 
termine. 


WILD  FOWL. 

DUCK   SHOOTING. 

Proudly  pre-eminent  among  the  water-fowl  of 
the  United  States,  for  the  elegance  of  its 
plumage,  the  exquisite  flavor  of  its  flesh,  and 
the  sport  which  it  affords  the  shooter,  stands 
the  far-famed  canvass-back.  Gentle  reader,  if 
you  have  ever  lain  submerged  in  a  battery  on 
Devil's  Island,  or  in  ambuscade  in  the  narrows 
of  Spesutia,  and  watched  them  pitching,  in  their 
superb  way,  among  your  decoys,  or  bent  to  your 
oars  on  a  blustering  day,  and  snatched  them 
from  the  rough  waters  of  the  Chesapeake ;  or 
studied  the  markings  of  their  winter  dress,  as 
they  lay  upon  the  thwTart-board  of  the  scow  in 
pairs  of  fifty  at  a  time,  and  finally,  if  you  have 
sailed,  poled  or  swept  back  to  Havre  de  Grace 
by  the  light  of  the  moon — dropped  anchor  and 
gone  on  shore  to  dine  upon  them  cooked  au 
naturel, — then,  perhaps,  you  have  realized,  to 
its  fullest  extent,  the  spell  contained  in  those 
potent  words, — 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  219 

ANAS  VALISIXERIA. 

THE  CANVASS-BACK. 

Description. — "  The  canvass-back  duck  is  two 
feet  long  and  three  in  extent,  and  when  in  good 
order,  weighs  three  pounds ;  the  bill  is  large, 
rising  high  in  the  head,  three  inches  in  length, 
and  one  inch  and  three-eighths  thick  at  the  base, 
of  a  glossy  black;  eye,  very  small;  irides,  dark 
red  ;  cheeks  and  fore  part  of  the  head,  blackish 
brown ;  rest  of  the  head  and  greater  part  of  the 
neck,  bright  glossy  reddish  chestnut,  ending  in 
a  broad  space  of  black  that  covers  the  upper 
part  of  the  breast,  and  spreads  round  to  the 
back  ;  back,  scapulars  and  tertials,  white,  faintly 
marked  with  an  infinite  number  of  transverse, 
waving  lines  or  points,  as  if  done  with  a  pencil; 
whole  lower  parts  of  the  breast,  also  the  belly, 
white,  slightly  pencilled  in  the  same  manner, 
scarcely  perceptible  on  the  breast,  pretty  thick 
towards  the  vent;  wing-coverts,  gray,  with 
numerous  specks  of  blackish;  primaries  and 
secondaries,  pale  slate,  two  or  three  of  the  latter 
of  which  nearest  the  body  are  finely  edged  with 
deep,  velvety  black,  the  former  dusky  at  the 
tips;  tail,  very  short,  pointed,  consisting  of 


220  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

fourteen  feathers  of  a  hoary  brown ;  vent  and 
tail-coverts  black,  lining  of  the   wing,  white ; 
legs   and  feet,  very  pale  ash,  the  latter  three 
inches  in  width — a  circumstance  which  partly 
accounts    for  its  great    powers  of    swimming. 
The  female  is  somewhat  less  than  the  male,  arid 
weighs    two    pounds    and   three-quarters ;   the 
crown  is  blackish  brown  ;  cheeks  and  throat  of 
a  pale  drab;  neck,  dull  brown;  breast,  as  far  as 
the   black   extends   on   the  male,  dull   brown, 
skirted  in  many  places  with  pale  drab;  back, 
dusky  white,  crossed  with  fine,  waving  lines ; 
belly,  of  the  same  dull  white,  pencilled  like  the 
back ;  wings,  feet  and  bill  as  in  the  male  ;  tail- 
covert,  dusky ;  vent,  white,  waved  with  brown. 
The  windpipe  of  the  male  has  a  large,  flattish, 
concave  labyrinth,  the  ridge  of  which  is  covered 
with  a  thin,  transparent  membrane ;  where  the 
trachea  enters  this,  it  is  very  narrow,  but  im- 
mediately  above    swells  to   three    times    that 
diameter.     The   intestines  are  wide,  and  mea- 
sure five  feet  in  length." 

Ranking   next   to   the    canvass-back,  in  the 
estimation  of  the  sportsman  and  the  epicure,  is 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  221 

THE  RED-HEADED  DUCK. 

ANAS  FERINA. 

Description. — "  The  red-head  is  twenty  inches 
in  length,  and  two  feet  six  inches  in  extent;  bill, 
dark  slate,  sometimes  black,  two  inches  long, 
and  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  thick  at  the  base, 
furnished  with  a  large,  broad  nail  at  the  ex- 
tremity; irides,  flame  colored;  plumage  of  the 
head,  long,  velvety,  and  inflated,  running  high 
above  the  base  of  the  bill ;  head  and  two  inches 
of  the  neck,  deep  glossy  reddish  chestnut ;  rest 
of  the  neck  and  upper  part  of  the  breast,  black, 
spreading  round  to  the  back ;  belly,  white,  be- 
coming  dusky   towards  the    vent    by    closely 
marked,  undulating  lines  of  black;  back  and 
scapulars,    bluish    white,    rendered    gray    by 
numerous  transverse,    waving   lines  of  black; 
lesser  wing-coverts,  brownish  ash,  wing-quills, 
very  pale  slate,  dusky  at  the  tips;  lower  part 
of  the  back  and  sides  under  the  wings,  brownish 
black,    crossed   with    regular    zigzag    lines  of 
whitish ;    vent,   rump,    tail,    and    tail-coverts, 
black ;  legs  and  feet,  dark  ash. 

"  The  female  has  the  upper  part  of  the  head 
dusky  brown,  rest  of  the  head  and  part  of  the 
neck,  a  light,  sooty  brown ;  upper  part  of  the 


222  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

breast,  ashy  brown,  broadly  skirted  with  whit- 
ish; back,  dark  ash,  with  little  or  no  appear- 
ance of  white  penciling ;  wings,  bill  and  feet 
nearly  alike  in  both  sexes.  The  male  of  this 
species  has  a  large,  flat,  bony  labyrinth  on  the 
bottom  of  the  wind-pipe,  very  much  like  that  of 
the  canvass-back,  but  smaller ;  over  one  of  its 
concave  sides  is  spread  an  exceeding  thin, 
transparent  skin  or  membrane.  The  intestines 
are  of  great  width,  and  measure  six  feet  in 
length." 

After  the  red-head  we  have  the  bald-pate,  or 

AMERICAN  WIDGEON. 

ANAS  AMERICANA. 

Description, — "  The  widgeon,  or  bald -pate, 
measures  twenty-two  inches  in  length,  and 
thirty  inches  in  extent ;  the  bill  is  of  a  slate 
color;  the  nail,  black;  the  front  and  crown, 
cream  colored,  sometimes  nearly  wrliite,  the 
feathers  inflated  ;  from  the  eye,  backwards  to 
the  middle  of  the  neck  behind,  extends  a  band 
of  deep  glossy  green,  gold,  and  purple ;  throat, 
chin,  and  sides  of  the  neck  before,  as  far  as  the 
green  extends,  dull  yellowish  white,  thickly 
speckled  with  black;  breast  arid  hind  part  of 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  223 

the  neck,  hoary  bay,  running  in  under  the 
wings,  where  it  is  crossed  with  fine,  waving 
lines  of  black;  whole  belly,  white;  vent,  black; 
back  and  scapulars,  black,  thickly  and  beauti- 
fully crossed  with  undulating  lines  of  vinous 
bay ;  lower  part  of  the  back,  more  dusky ;  tail- 
coverts,  long,  pointed,  whitish,  crossed  as  the 
back;  tail,  pointed,  brownish  ash;  the  two 
middle  leathers  an  inch  longer  than  the  rest, 
and  tapering ;  shoulder  of  the  wing,  brownish 
ash ;  wing-coverts  immediately  below,  white, 
forming  a  large  spot;  primaries,  brownish  ash; 
middle  secondaries,  black,  glossed  with  green, 
forming  the  speculum ;  tertials,  black,  edged 
with  white,  between  which,  and  the  beauty 
spot,  several  of  the  secondaries  are  white. 

"  The  female  has  the  whole  head  and  neck  yel- 
lowish white,  thickly  speckled  with  black,  very 
little  rufous  on  the  breast;  the  back  is  dark 
brown.  The  young  males,  as  usual,  very  much 
like  the  females  on  the  first  season,  and  do  not 
receive  their  full  plumage  until  the  second  year. 
They  are  also  subject  to  a  regular  change  every 
spring  and  fall." 

To  this  description  of  Wilson's,  Brewer  adds 
the  following  remarks  concerning  the  European 
widgeon  : 


224  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

"  This  species  (the  American)  is  closely  al- 
lied to  the  European  widgeon.  The}7  seem  to 
meet  each  other  about  the  Artie  circle ;  that  of 
the  American  extending  beyond  it,  and  that  of 
Europe  reaching  to  the  European  verge.  The 
bird  of  Europe,  except  in  the  breeding  season, 
is  mostly  an  inhabitant  of  the  sea-shore ;  during 
a  severe  winter,  a  few  stray  inland  to  the  larger 
lakes  and  rivers,  but  as  soon  as  a  recurrence  of 
moderate  weather  takes  place,  they  return  to 
their  more  favorite  feeding  grounds.  In  Britain 
they  are  mostly  migratory,  and  at  the  first  com- 
mencement of  our  hard  weather,  are  found  in 
vast  flocks  on  the  flatter  coasts,  particularly 
where  there  are  beds  of  muscles,  and  other 
shell-fish.  During  the  day,  they  rest  and  plume 
themselves  on  the  higher  shelves,  or  doze  buoy- 
ant on  the  waves,  and  only  commence  their 
activity  with  the  approach  of  twilight.  At  this 
time  they  become  clamorous,  and  rising  in 
dense  flocks  from  their  day's  resort,  proceed  to 
the  feeding  grounds,  generally  according  with 
the  wind  in  the  same  tract.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  winter,  they  are  fat  and  delicate,  much 
sought  after  by  sportsmen,  and  are  killed  by  per- 
sons lying  in  watch  in  the  track  of  the  known 
flight,  or  what,  in  some  parts,  is  called  slaking. 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  225 

The  most  propitious  night  for  this  sport  is  about 
half  moon,  and  strong  wind ;  the  birds  then  fly 
low,  and  their  approach  is  easily  known  by  the 
whistling  of  their  wings,  and  there  own  shrill  cry ; 
wrhence  their  coast-name  of  Hew. 

"They  are  subject  to  annual  change  of  plum- 
age. Mr.  Ord  mentions,  that  a  few  of  these 
birds  breed  annually  in  the  marshes  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Duck  Creek,  in  the  state  of 
Delaware.  ATI  acquaintance  of  the  editor's 
brought  him  thence,  in  the  month  of  June,  an 
egg,  which  had  been  taken  from  a  nest  situated 
in  a  cluster  of  alders." 

Next  to  the  widgeon  comes  the  black-head,  or 

SCAUP  DUCK. 

ANAS  MAKILLA. 

Called  the  Blue-bill  on  the  Delaware  and  the  Black-head  on  the 
Chesapeake. 

Description. — "  This  duck  is  nineteen  inches 
in  length,  and  twenty-nine  in  extent ;  bill,  broad, 
generally  of  a  light  blue,  sometimes  of  a  dusky 
lead  color;  irides,  reddish;  head,  tumid,  covered 
with  plumage  of  a  dark,  glossy  green,  extending 
half  way  down  the  neck ;  rest  of  the  neck  and 
breast,  black,  spreading  round  to  the  back ;  back 


226  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

and  scapulars,  white,  thickly  crossed  with  wav- 
ing lines  of  black ;  lesser  coverts,  dusky,  pow- 
dered with  veins  of  whitish ;  primaries  and  ter- 
tials,  brownish  black ;  secondaries,  white,  tipped 
with  black,  forming  the  speculum ;  rump  and 
tail-coverts,  black ;  tail,  short,  rounded,  and  of  a 
dusky  brown;  belly,  white,  crossed  near  the 
vent  with  waving  lines  of  ash;  legs  and  feet, 
dark  slate.  Such  is  the  color  of  the  bird  in  its 
perfect  state.  Young  birds  vary  considerably, 
some  having  the  head  black,  mixed  with  gray 
and  purple,  others  the  back  dusky,  with  little  or 
no  white,  and  that  irregularly  dispersed.  The 
female  has  the  front  and  sides  of  the  same  white ; 
head  and  half  of  the  neck,  blackish  brown; 
breast,  spreading  round  the  back,  a  dark  sooty 
brown,  broadly  skirted  with  whitish ;  back, 
black,  thinly  sprinkled  with  grains  of  white; 
vent,  whitish ;  wings,  the  same  as  the  male. 

"  The  windpipe  of  the  male  of  this  species  is 
of  large  diameter :  the  labyrinth,  similar  to  some 
others,  though  not  of  the  largest  kind ;  it  has 
something  of  the  shape  of  a  single  cockle  shell ; 
its  open  side,  or  circular  rim,  covered  with  a 
thin,  transparent  skin.  Just  before  the  wind- 
pipe enters  this,  it  lessens  its  diameter  at  least 
two-thirds,  and  assumes  a  nattish  form." 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  227 

The  use  of  this  labyrinth  in  the  trachea  of 
this  and  others  of  the  genus,  is,  doubtless  for  the 
production  of  certain  peculiar  sounds,  by  which 
the  bird  communicates  different  emotions  to  its 
fellows. 

The  three  last  described  ducks  are  all  com- 
panions of  the  canvass-back,  and  like  it,  feed 
upon  the  same  aquatic  plant,  a  species  of  valisi- 
neria,  which  abounds  upon  the  submerged  flats 
at  the  head-waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  It  grows 
in  from  seven  to  nine  feet  water,  has  a  narrow 
blade,  four  or  five  feet  in  length,  and  a  delicate, 
semi-translucent  root,  like  very  small  celery. 
The  canvass-back,  which  is  the  most  expert 
diver,  tears  the  grass  from  the  shoals  with  its 
strong  bill,  eating  only  the  root,  while  the  others 
regale  themselves  on  the  rejected  part,  or  the 
blade.  They  are,  however,  accused  on  good 
evidence,  of  occasionally  snatching  the  entire 
plant  from  the  bill  of  their  provider,  the  instant 
that  it  re-appears,  and  this  species  of  petty  larceny 
is  especially  charged  upon  the  widgeon,  which, 
besides  being  of  a  lively,  mercurial  disposition, 
is  known  never  to  dive,  except  when  dodging  a 
pursuing  boat,  and  too  much  crippled  to  take 
wing.  The  canvass-back  often  resents  this  in- 
jury, and  the  feeding  ground  is  the  scene  of 


223  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

many  a  squabble,  precisely  similar  in  character 
to  those  which  are  every  day  witnessed  among 
our  tame  fowl,  on  the  pond  and  in  the  barn- 
yard. 

All  these  ducks  stool  readily,  except  the  wid- 
geon, which  is  apt  to  soar  and  make  off  as  it 
nears  the  battery,  often  giving  the  alarm,  in  this 
way,  to  whole  flocks  of  other  ducks,  which  are 
on  the  fly  for  the  decoys.  On  this  account  it  is 
rather  in  bad  odor  with  the  shooters  of  Havre 
de  Grace,  who,  while  watching  the  box  from  the 
scow,  rarely  fail  to  exult  in  the  fall  of  a  bald- 
pate. 

Canvass-backs,  however,  afford  the  best  sport, 
as  they  fly  more  compactly  and  dart  better  than 
any  other  species  of  duck.  In  eluding  their 
pursuers  by  diving,  milling  round  and  swim- 
ming under  water,  when  pinioned,  they  are  only 
equalled  by  the  scaup-duck,  and  a  chase  after  a 
crippled  "hickory  quaker"  or  a  " bay  black-head," 
is  sometimes  only  to  be  successfully  ended  by 
driving  them  into  very  shoal  water,  where  they 
are  speedily  knocked  in  the  head. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  the  year  18 — ,  while  par- 
tridge shooting  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Chesa- 
peake, we  received  an  invitation  from  Mr.  J.  W. 
McCullough,  of  Port  Deposit,  to  accompany  him 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  229 

on  an  excursion  in  a  new  scow,  which  he  had 
built  and  equipped  after  the  most  approved  man- 
ner, especially  to  kill  ducks  in  the  Susquehanna 
and  the  upper  bay.  She  was  wall- sided  and 
flat-bottomed,  forty  feet  long  and  nine  feet  beam. 
She  carried  a  jib  and  a  lartre  fore  and  aft  main- 
sail. A  space  barely  sufficient  for  a  tall  man  to 
lie  at  length,  was  decked  off  forward,  and  con- 
tained three  or  four  bunks  and  a  small  stove, 
besides  the  stooling  guns,  several  bags  of  heavy 
shot  and  kegs  of  ducking  powder,  not  to  speak 
of  a  quart  coffee-pot  and  two  large  baskets  of 
provender.  This  was  the  hardy  duck-shooter's 
cabin ;  it  was  well  pitched  so  as  to  be  waterlight, 
and  was  entered  by  a  small  scuttle  with  a  slide ; 
here  he  cooked,  eat,  slept,  kept  tally  of  his  game, 
manufactured  the  heads  and  necks  of  decoys, 
cut  his  gun-wads,  spun  his  yarns,  drank  his  grog 
or  coffee,  and  kept  care  outside  from  October 
until  April,  during  the  severest  season  of  the 
year. 

The  scow's  rudder  was  set  on  a  pivot  so  as  to 
be  readily  unshipped  in  case  of  necessity,  or  to 
be  used  like  the  steering-oar  of  a  whale  boat,  in 
throwing  her  head  around.  She  had  large  lee- 
boards,  which  enabled  her  to  lie  very  close  to  the 
wind  in  moderate  weather,  though  from  her 
15 


230  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

shape  and  her  being  all  above  water,  she  was 
sure  to  make  much  leeway  in  a  rough  sea. 
Going  large  in  fair  weather  she  sailed  and  steered 
well,  and  in  fact,  was  just  the  sort  of  craft  which 
is  especially  adapted  for  navigating  the  shoal 
water  of  the  upper  bay. 

Midships  rested  the  battery  or  "sunk-box,"  of 
which  we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  speak,  and 
piled  up  in  great  heaps  abaft  on  either  side,  but 
so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  motions  of  the 
rudder,  were  the  decoys  or  wooden  ducks,  each 
having  its  cord,  with  the  weight  attached,  wound 
round  its  body,  the  last  turn  being  taken  round 
the  neck,  regular  duck-shooter  fashion.  They 
had  evidently  seen  service  from  their  bleached 
and  weather-beaten  looks.  Some  of  them  bore 
the  appearance  of  having  been  recently  pretty 
well  peppered  in  the  way  of  business,  and  par- 
ticles of  grass  might  still  be  seen  adhereing  to 
the  anchors  and  cables  of  a  few  of  the  upper- 
most. The  scow  was  furnished  with  raft-poles, 
and  heavy  oars  or  sweeps  to  be  used  in  forcing 
her  over  the  flats  in  a  calm,  and  two  large, 
four-oared,  flat-bottomed  boats,  called  yawls, 
towed  astern. 

At  two  o'clock  on  a  cold,  clear  morning,  we 
set  off  from  McCullough's  hospitable  roof,  and 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  231 

traversing  the  single,  straggling  street,  reached 
the    scow  at  Wilmer's  wharf,  where  we  found 
the  helmsman  and  the  boy  waiting  for  us  on 
board.    The  fastenings  were  cast  off,  and  getting 
clear  of  the  rafts,  we  run  up  the  jib,  and  with 
the  wind  fresh  from  nor'-west,  stood  down  along 
the  shore,  which  is  bold,  and  could  be  just  seen 
from  the  scow,  with  here  and  there  the  white 
front  of  a  dwelling,  looming  up  above  the  town 
in  the  dim  glimmer  of  the  star-light.    It  was  our 
intention  to  set  the  battery  on  Devil's  Island,  so 
called,   though   in   reality  it   is   nothing   but  a 
sunken   shoal,    lying    nearly    south-west    from 
Havre  de  Grace,  and  on  the  western  side  of  the 
swash,  or  channel  through  the  submerged  flats. 
These  last,  be  it  understood  by  the  general  rea- 
der, extend  for  eight  miles  or  more   from   the 
mouth  of  the  river  to  the  island  of  Spesutia,  and 
are  the  feeding  grounds  on  which  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  the  choicest  species  of  ducks,  are  annu- 
ally slaughtered  by  the  market-shooters  of  Havre 
de  Grace.     Below  Spesutia  the  water  is  deeper, 
but  from  the  island  to  Havre  de  Grace  the  ship- 
channel  is,   so  to  speak,  but  a  mere  "  swash." 
This  entire  ground,  from  the  slight  rise  of  the 
tide,   and    from   the   fact  of  its   being   thickly 
covered   with   grass,  which  is  the  food  of  the 


232  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

fowl,  and  serves  also  to  break  the  force  of  the 
seas,  which  roll  in  from  the  lower  bay,  is  especi- 
ally suited  for  the  operations  of  the  floating 
batteries. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  be  accompanied  on 
this  excursion  by  an  old  friend  from  the  city, 
whom  we  encountered  at  Port  Deposit,  and  after 
seeing  the  mainsail  set,  and  the  craft  fairly  under 
way,  steering  for  Havre  de  Grace  light,  we 
retired  to  the  cabin,  to  while  away  the  time  by 
listening  to  the  sporting  experience  of  the  owner 
of  the  scow,  or  by  chatting  over  adventures  of 
the  past.  Passing  Havre  de  Grace,  we  found 
the  duck  shooters  of  that  place  already  on  the 
stir,  and  were  successively  hailed  by  Baird, 
Holly  and  other  famous  shots,  who  were  prepar- 
ing to  drop  down  to  their  respective  anchoring 
grounds. 

Coming  to,  at  last,  just  as  the  moon  rose,  we 
dropped  anchor  on  the  shoal,  and  waited  impa- 
tiently until  within  a  half  an  hour  of  daybreak, 
when,  all  things  else  being  in  readiness,  we 
went  to  work  transferring  the  decoys  into  the 
boats,  and  launching  the  battery  over  the  side. 
This  last  was  done  by  our  united  strength  as 
carefully  as  possible,  so  as  to  avoid  shipping 
water  into  the  box,  McCullough  then  stepped 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  233 

into  the  box,  unfolded  the  floating  wings 
and  turned  up  the  guards ;  several  pigs  of  iron, 
sufficiently  heavy  to  sink  the  frame  of  the  battery 
to  the  water's  edge,  were  handed  in ;  a  board, 
covered  with  a  blanket,  was  then  laid  over  these 
on  the  bottom  of  the  sunken  box,  and  after  re- 
ceiving the  guns  and  ammunition,  the  occupant 
pushed  off  from  the  scow  with  his  boat-hook, 
while  we  jumped  into  the  yawl  to  tow  the 
machine  head  to  wind  on  the  selected  spot,  and 
assist  in  setting  the  stools.  The  former  was 
then  anchored  stem  and  stern,  and  by  the  wan- 
ing light  of  the  moon  we  proceeded  to  dispose  the 
decoys,  in  the  arrangement  of  which  McCul- 
lough,  like  most  expert  duck-shooters,  was  very 
fastidious. 

They  were  placed  so  as  to  ride  freely  without 
coming  in  contact  with  each  other,  principally 
at  the  stern  and  on  either  hand  of  the  side  wings, 
the  perfection  of  the  art  appearing  to  be  to  avoid 
leaving  a  gap  in  any  part  of  the  rank,  and  yet  to 
prevent,  if  possible,  the  ducks  from  falling 
foul.  A  few  of  the  lightest  were  placed  imme- 
diately on  the  wings,  and  several  heads  of  de- 
coys were  firmly  fixed  on  wooden  pins  on  the 
deck  of  the  battery.  The  false  ducks  were  not 
all  imitations  of  canvass-backs,  but  had  red- 


234  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

heads,  black-heads,  and  a  few  hald-pates,  inter- 
mingled with  the  nobler  variety.  The  outside 
duck  at  the  tail  of  the  rank  was  a  veteran  can- 
vass-back, facetiously  called  the  toller. 

The  rank  being  now  complete  and  made  to 
mimic  life  to  admiration  by  the  action  of  the 
ripples, — as  each  duck  rode  knowingly  to  its 
anchor, — and  the  frame  in  which  the  box  was 
set  flush  with  the  water's  edge,  yet  preserved 
from  filling  by  the  floating  wings  fore  and  aft, 
and  at  the  sides,  of  course,  the  box  being  deep 
enough  to  receive  the  body  of  a  man  laid  at 
length,  must  be  sunk  some  eighteen  inches  be- 
low the  surface,  and  the  shooter  'himself,  in  his 
watery  ambuscade,  perfectly  invisible  to  the 
passing  ducks,  except  from  the  air  immediately 
over  his  head.  The  water  being  moderately 
smooth,  the  guards  were  then  turned  down  flat 
with  the  deck,  and  while  the  boats  pulled  back 
to  the  scow,  which  immediately  lifted  her  an- 
chor, the  shooter  loaded  his  three  guns,  and 
placing  them  in  the  box  with  their  muzzles  rest- 
ing on  its  edge,  took  a  last  look  at  his  decoys ; 
then  observing  daylight  breaking  in  the  east,  he 
laid  himself  flat  on  his  back  on  the  board,  and 
shut  out  from  every  object  and  every  sound,  save 
the  pale,  dull  sky  and  the  slight,  rippling  plash 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  235 

within  an  inch  of  his  head, — all  eye  and  ear, 
waited  patiently  for  his  first  dart. 

We  had  hardly  anchored  about  a  half  a  mile 
higher  up,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  flight 
of  the  game,  which,  as  a  rule,  work  to  wind- 
ward and  of  course  come  up  to  leeward  of  the 
shooter,  or  at  his  feet,  before  we  heard  the  faint 
report  of  his  gun,  although  it  was  not  sufficiently 
light  to  see  either  the  ducks  or  the  decoys  from 
the  scow. 

The  boy  continued  to  report  shot  after  shot, 
while  we  were  engaged  in  eating  our  breakfast 
in  the  cabin,  and  as  we  came  out,  Davis,  the 
helmsman,  directed  our  attention  to  a  large  flock 
of  canvass-backs,  some  of  whom  he  swore  in  his 
emphatic  way,  "were  going  into  the  pot." 
Glancing  along  the  broad  expanse  of  water  on 
which  the  sun  had  now  risen,  we  plainly  saw 
the  ducks  sweeping  swiftly  up  to  the  tail  of  the 
decoys,  among  which  the  foremost  had  hardly 
alighted,  before  you  saw  the  dark  figure  of 
McCullough  rise  from  the  water  as  if  by  magic — 
then  the  successive  discharges,  and  the  white 
water  occasioned  by  the  fall  of  each  duck,  the 
helmsman  counting  five  down.  The  next  instant 
the  shooter  was  standing  up,  waving  his  cap, 
arid  jumping  into  the  yawl  with  Ben  Davis,  we 


236  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

pulled  away  with  might  and  main  to  secure  the 
dead  ducks. 

Fifteen  canvass-backs  and  three  red-heads 
were  picked  up,  two  of  these,  which  were  crip- 
pled, being  shot  over,  as  the  phrase  goes,  with 
a  small  gun  loaded  with  number  eight.  We 
then  rowed  straight  for  the  battery,  in  which 
McCullough  now  insisted  that  we  should  take 
our  turn.  There  was  no  time  to  argue  matters 
with  ducks  on  the  fly ;  so  landing  on  one  side  of 
the  deck,  while  he  came  off  at  the  other,  we  took 
our  place  in  some  trepidation  of  spirit,  years  have 
been  intervened  since  we  had  drawn  trigger  on 
wild  fowl,  if  we  except  occasionally  knocking 
over  a  crippled  sprig- tail  or  mallard  on  the  snipe 
grounds.  The  remembrance  that  our  friend 
from  Philadelphia  was  a  capital  duck-shot,  by 
no  means  tended  to  allay  this  feeling,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  sound  of  oars  had  died  away  on  our 
ears,  and  we  felt  ourselves,  as  it  were,  alone  with 
the  decoys,  which  kept  bobbing  their  heads  as  if 
they  were  actually  swallowing  duck- weed  with 
the  greatest  possible  gusto,  and  shifting  their 
bearings  with  inimitable  gravity,  that  we  re- 
gained our  wonted  nerve,  and  made  up  our  mind 
to  mischief.  The  next  moment  our  ears  were 
saluted  by  the  whistling  of  fowls'  wings,  and  the 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  237 

patter  of  their  feet  in  the  act  of  alighting  on  the 
left  of  the  battery;  seizing  the  small  gun  we  sat 
up  in  the  box  and  knocked  over  one  canvass- 
back  swimming  among  the  stools,  and  a  second 
as  it  rose,  and  catching  up  the  second  gun  fired 
ineffectually  at  two  others  making  off;  then 
charging  the  pieces,  cast  a  glance  at  the  dead 
birds  to  ascertain  the  direction  of  their  drift,  and 
sank  back  out  of  sight,  without  as  much  as  look- 
ing at  the  scow,  feeling  very  certain  that  had 
the  presence  of  mind,  in  which  we  felt  so  assured 
before,  governed  our  actions,  all  four  ducks 
would  have  been  at  that  moment  floating  dead 
on  the  tide.  In  fact,  gentle  reader,  in  the  unex- 
c usable  heat  of  the  moment,  a  great  blunder  had 
been  committed  in  shooting  at  the  ducks  in  the 
water,  when  we  should  have  first  drawn  trigger 
on  those  yet  upon  the  wing,  but  in  the  act  of 
dropping  their  sterns,  to  alight  outside  of  the 
first;  when  we  should  have  used  the  second  gun 
on  the  others,  which  would  have  still  been  with- 
in available  distance.  Had  Fred  been  there,  we 
thought,  he  would  have  had  four  ducks  down; 
but,  n'  importe,  let  them  come  again. 

But  at  least  ten  minutes  of  expectation  elapsed 
before  another  shot  was  obtained,  during  which 
time,  to  recover  our  coolness,  we  watched  the 


238  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

motion  of  a  red-head  decoy,  close  to  the  after 
wing.  A  comical-looking,  hard-a-weather  old 
fellow  he  was,  with  the  nail  of  his  bill  shot  off 
and  his  head  turned  over  his  back,  and  there  he 
kept  veering  and  bowing,  now  looking  us  right 
in  the  eye  over  the  edge  of  the  wings,  as  he 
topped  a  small  surge,  and  now  disappearing  from 
our  sight  again, — when,  all  at  once,  a  small  flock 
of  black-heads  appeared,  setting  their  wings  to 
alight,  as  it  seemed  right  over  him,  and  rising 
more  coolly  this  time,  we  managed  to  kill  three 
out  of  seven  and  cripple  down  a  fourth,  without 
finding  occasion  to  use  the  second  gun,  the  sur- 
vivors going  off  so  swiftly  to  our  right,  that  they 
were  far  to  leeward  by  the  time  we  had  turned. 
After  this  we  had  pretty  shooting  for  about  an 
hour,  when  Davis  came  out  to  relieve  us,  Fred 
preferring  to  take  his  turn  in  the  afternoon,  as 
the  swell  was  sinking  fast  with  the  wind,  and  in 
a  half  an  hour  it  bade  fair  to  be  calm.  Accord- 
ingly Davis  had  not  fired  more  than  a  half  a 
dozen  shots,  killing  a  canvass-back  at  each  dis- 
charge, before  the  water  was  as  smooth  as  a  mill- 
pond;  our  own  decoys  and  those  of  one  or  two 
other  batteries  at  a  still  greater  distance,  loomed 
up  on  the  glassy  flood  as  large  as  geese ;  the 
ducks  ceased  to  stool,  and  we  passed  away  the 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  239 

time  until  noon  chatting,  and  examining  the 
game,  which  lay  ranged  in  pairs  on  the  thwart- 
boards,  or  starting  up  as  the  report  of  Davis'  gun 
told  of  an  occasional  shot  at  a  single  duck,  pass- 
ing over  his  stools,  on  its  way  up  or  down  the 
bay. 

While  we  were  at  dinner  a  circumstance  hap- 
pened at  the  battery,  which  almost  caused  Davis 
to  avow  himself  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination, at  least  as  regards  wild  fowl  shoot- 
ing. Not  having  had  a  shot  for  some  time,  he 
was  lying  at  his  ease  with  his  cap  drawn  over 
his  eyes  to  defend  them  from  the  vertical  rays  of 
the  sun,  when  a  swan  passed  slowly  over  his  de- 
coys, and  strange  to  say,  every  gun  in  the  battery 
missed  fire,  and  the  noble  bird  continued  its  course 
down  the  bay  unharmed. 

"I  had  drawn  for  his  neck,"  said  the  unfortu- 
nate duck-shooter,  "  and  was  as  sure  of  him  as  I 
was  of  my  supper ;  but  the  Walker  caps  are  not 
worth  the  copper  they  are  made  of  any  more, 

and  I  suppose  the  d d  bird  would  have  gone 

free,  if  I  had  fired  the  biggest  swivel-gun  on  the 
Potomac  at  his  head,  at  the  same  distance." 

"  No  doubt  of  it,"  said  we;  there  is  no  fight- 
ing against  fate — but  to  change  the  subject,  were 
you  ever  caught  in  a  heavy  blow  in  one  of  these 
tubs,  Ben?"  " 


240  KRIDEE'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

"  Was  I?"  he  echoed,  looking  sideways  at  us, 
while  he  kept  his  swarthy  face  turned  like  a 
wall  towards  the  box,  in  which  Fred  was  now 
lying;  "you  see,  sir,  we  left  Annapolis  that 
morning  bound  for  the  Potomac  for  a  change  of 
ground ;  the  wind  was  west  when  we  started, 
but  soon  hauled  to  N.  N.  E.  and  then  back  to 
north,  blowing  a  regular  persimmon  gale.  I  was 
at  the  helm — Tom  painting  decoys, — when  the 
sail  jibed  and  she  came  head  to  in  spite  of  us — 
shipped  three  seas  in  less  than  three  minutes — 
a  hogshead  of  water  at  each  sea — lost  all  the 
decoys  overboard — started  the  sunk-box — tore 
mainsail  from  the  gaff,  and  had  to  run  into  Cove 
Point  harbor,  eight  miles  from  Patuxet  river, 
where  we  lay  snug  enough  until  it  had  spit  its 
spite." 

"A  good  harbor  that?"  we  asked  by  way  of 
passing  time. 

"  Ay,"  said  he,  "  the  best  on  the  Chesapeake — 

a  perfect  basin — but  d n  that  swan  and  the 

hen  that  hatched  him !  I  don't  care  for  the 
value  of  the  bird,  sir — I've  seen  acres  on  acres 
of  'em  at  a  time,  mixed  in  with  geese, — but  by 
the  North  Pole,  it  was  enough  to  make  a  man 
forswear  father  and  mother  and  turn  Turk  to 
lose  the  shot." 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  241 

" But  where  did  you  see  swans  by  the  acre?" 
said  we. 

"Where?"  he  repeated,  "why  in  a  dozen 
places,  to  be  sure ;  but  the  most  I  ever  did  see, 
was  on  a  sandbar,  with  rocks  at  its  head,  that 
makes  up  and  covers  the  mouth  of  the  Yeoco- 
moco  river.  There's  two  bars,  by  the  way,  both 
making  from  the  mainland,  one  up  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  other  down ;  there's 
not  a  foot  of  water  on  either  bar ;  you  must  stand 
up  between  the  two,  or  you'll  stick.  Both  bars 
were  covered  with  geese  and  swans,  and  when 
they  got  up  a  half  a  mile  off,  they  made  a  noise 
like  all  old  Nick's  hounds  in  full  cry; — but  there 
goes  a  small  dart  of  red-heads — no,  they've 
turned — yes — there  they  go — there  they  go, 
straight  for  the  decoys — four  ducks  down !" 

"Ay,"  said  McCullough,  "Mr.  W.  shoots 
ducks  well ;  I've  been  out  with  him  before  ;  he's 
quite  as  sure  in  the  box  as  you  or  I,  Ben." 

"  Ay,"  answered  Ben,  "it  may  be,  in  moderate 
weather  and  when  the  ducks  come  well  up  :  but 
what  would  he  do  in  the  box  in  a  heavy  swell, 
with  the  wind  as  keen  as  a  knife,  on  a  December 
day?" 

"  Oh  !"  said  McCullough,  "  that  is  a  horse  of 
another  color.  The  clouds  are  moving  in  the 


242  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

nor'-west ;  \ve  shall  have  the  breeze  in  the  old 
quarter." 

"  Here  it  comes,"  said  Ben,  "  we  shall  kill 
ducks  fast  before  sun-down." 

'•Whose  scow  is  that  anchored  in  shore  in  a 
line  with  yon  bluff,  Ben?" 

"  Baird's,  I  reckon,"  answered  Ben,  "  and  he 
has  had  shooting ;  the  ducks  have  been  flying 
that  way  all  the  morning." 

The  wind  soon  freshened,  and  the  bay  was 
all  animation  again,  the  ducks  flying  in  large 
flocks,  the  batteries  cannonading,  boats  plying 
to  and  fro,  and  Fred  shooting  in  a  style  not  to  be 
surpassed.  The  puffs  of  smoke  rising  from  the 
water's  edge,  reminded  us  strongly  of  the  hur- 
ried glimpse  which  a  sailor  sometimes  gets  of  a 
white  jet  or  spout,  when  he  turns  his  head  for  a 
moment,  while  pulling  to  windward  in  chase  of 
a  gallied  sperm  whale ;  and  the  sight  of  a  dark 
figure  suddenly  seen  standing  apparently  on  the 
water  a  half  a  mile  off,  and  then  as  suddenly 
sinking  again,  bore  some  resemblance  to  a  much 
rarer  sight,  a  whale's  head  thrust  vertically  out 
of  the  sea,  seen  from  the  masthead  at  the  hori- 
zon's verge  on  a  clear  day. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  Davis  and  our- 
selves had  a  sharp  chase  after  a  crippled  duck ; 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  243 

from  the  trouble  it  gave  us  we  both,  supposed  it 
to  be  a  canvass-back,  but  after  being  killed  at 
last  by  a  snap  shot,  it  proved  to  be  a  black- 
head.* 

Fred  continued  in  the  box  during  the  whole 
afternoon,  and  as  far  as  our  remembrance  serves 
us,  did  not  miss  a  single  duck.  At  sun-down  we 
pushed  off  from  the  scow  to  "  take  up."  While 
securing  the  decoys,  a  canvass-back  darted  twice 
between  the  boats  and  the  battery,  and  return- 
ing a  third  time  was  killed  by  our  city  friend 
who  was  still  in  the  box.  We  have  often  ob- 
served this  sort  of  infatuation  in  the  most  wary 
and  shy  of  the  feathered  race ;  time  after  time 
in  the  falcon  tribe,  and  even  in  the  common 
crow.  We  have  shot  hawks  in  close  pursuit  of 
woodpeckers  and  other  small  birds  in  an  open 
field,  and  in  one  instance,  after  witnessing  from 
the  barn-yard  a  very  interesting  chase  between 
the  Falco  Columbarius  and  a  tame  pigeon, 


*  It  is  remarkable  that  a  dog  accustomed  to  retrieving  ducka 
from  the  water,  will  give  over  the  chase  after  a  crippled  canvass- 
back,  as  soon  as  he  perceives  the  object  of  his  pursuit  is  able  to 
make  a  long  stretch  or  two  beneath  the  surface.  Experience  has 
taught  him  that  all  his  skill  and  sagacity  are  thrown  away,  when 
brought  into  competition  with  this  cunning  and  powerful  duck. 
The  large  channel  black-heads,  or  those  which  frequent  the  bay, 
are  almost  as  long  breathed  and  as  deep  divers. 


244  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

killed  the  former  but  a  few  feet  behind  the  lat- 
ter, which,  but  for  the  timely  rescue,  must 
inevitably  have  become  its  prey.* 

Taking  out  the  dogs  during  the  past  winter, 
they  pointed  a  single  crow,  which  being  busily 
engaged  in  digging  some  object  from  the  ground, 
allowed  us  to  come  within  ten  yards  of  it,  al- 
though we  had  a  gun  in  our  hands  at  the  time, 
which  circumstance,  gentle  reader,  while  it 
rather  invalidates  the  popular  notion  that  the 
crow  is  able  to  scent  powder,  shows  that  the 
eye  of  the  bird  was  fully  engaged  with  the  ob- 
ject on  the  ground,  and  did  not  in  reality  see  us 
or  the  dogs,  until  its  attention  was  attracted  by 
the  sound  of  our  approach.  The  study  of  the 
vision  of  birds  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
interesting  departments  of  natural  history  ;  with 
the  exception  of  that  of  flying,  perhaps,  the 

*  When  we  first  noticed  the  hawk,  it  was  some  distance  down 
the  wind  in  the  act  of  darting  upon  the  pigeon,  which  it  missed. 
The  pursuit  was  then  continued,  both  parties  beating  to  windward 
by  short  tacks,  the  pigeon  occasionally  putting  about  with  great 
adroitness  when  hard  pressed,  and  gradually  nearing  the  barn,  as 
the  one  redoubled  its  exertions  to  come  up,  and  the  other  to  escape, — 
until  when  fairly  within  shot,  we  decided  the  matter  at  the  very 
moment  that  the  piratical  cruiser  of  air  was  gaining  on  the  chase, 
as  the  sailors  say,  hand  over  hand.  The  pigeon  alit  upon  the 
roof  of  the  barn,  and  as  if  sensible  of  its  narrow  escape,  remained 
perfectly  quiet  for  a  considerable  time. 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  245 

most  so  of  all  to  the  scientific  inquirer.  When 
we  reflect  that  they  do  not  see  objects  as  we  do, 
but  with  a  magnifying  power,  which,  according 
to  the  adjustment  of  the  focus  of  the  eye,  has 
been  compared  to  that  of  the  telescope  or  the 
microscope,  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  each  case 
we  have  related,  the  eye  of  the  bird  was,  so  to 
speak,  so  filled  up  with  the  object  on  which  its 
vision,  for  the  time,  was  earnestly  bent,  that  it 
saw  adjoining  objects  but  very  imperfectly,  just 
as  the  falcon  has  been  known  to  fly  in  full  career 
against  a  tree  in  pursuit  of  a  partridge,  and  the 
duck,  after  twice  avoiding  the  men  in  the  boats 
near  the  battery,  met  its  death,  at  last,  over  the 
decoys  which  it  was  so  desirous  to  join. 

Taking  up  some  two  hundred  decoys  on  a 
cold,  blustering  evening,  is  rather  tedious  and 
benumbing  work  to  a  novice.  While  one  person 
manages  the  oars,  the  others  pick  up  each  duck 
singly,  so  as  not  to  entangle  it  with  its  fellows, 
and,  after  winding  the  cord  round  its  body  and 
removing  the  weed  from  the  weight,  stow  it  away 
in  the  bow  or  stern  of  the  yawl.  In  the  mean- 
time the  man  in  the  box,  laying  aside  his  guns, 
secures  the  few  ducks  near  the  wings,  turns  up 
the  guards,  and  as  soon  as  the  stools  are  all  in 
the  boat,  weighs  the  anchors  of  the  battery,  and 
16 


246  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

is  towed  down  to  the  scow.  The  contents  of  the 
boats  and  the  box  are  then  passed  on  board,  and 
lastly  the  battery  itself;  after  which  sail  is  made 
for  home. 

On  reaching  Havre  de  Grace,  we  went  into 
Baird's  hotel,  where  the  duck  shooters  of  the 
place  are  in  the  habit  of  congregating  to  talk 
over  the  exploits  of  the  day.* 

These  men  are  both  fishers  and  fowlers,  being 
engaged  during  the  spring  and  part  of  the  sum- 
mer, in  the  extensive  fisheries  of  the  Potomac 
and  Susquehanna,  and  returning  to  their  more 
congenial  occupation  in  autumn.  They  are 
generally  well  informed  on  all  matters  connected 
with  their  business, — sometimes  even  acute, 
and  some  of  them  realize  handsome  profits  in 
their  hardy  and  exciting  pursuits.  They  are 
almost  universally  expert  shots ;  indeed,  it  is 

*  While  harboring  in  a  creek  on  the  eastern  shore,  on  one  of  our 
excursions,  the  necks  of  a  fine  pair  of  canvass-backs  were  eaten  off 
by  a  mine,  although  they  "were  the  only  brace  in  the  lot,  and  had 
a  number  of  inferior  ducks  hung  on  either  side  of  them.  In  fact, 
old  shooters  seriously  declare  that  this  little  animal,  which  often 
swims  off  at  night  to  the  scows  in  search  of  plunder,  knows  the 
flavor  of  a  canvass-back,  and  will  never  touch  a  commoner  kind  of 
duck  when  the  former  is  to  be  had.  Some  years  ago  we  were 
shown  in  the  store  of  Mr.  Lyons,  at  Havre  de  Grace,  a  large  pet 
cat  which  was  said  to  show  the  same  epicurean  delicacy  of  taste 
when  occasion  offered. 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  247 

as  common  for  a  man  reared  on  either  shore  to 
shoot  well,  as  it  is  for  a  dog  in  the  same  sections 
to  swim  and  dive  like  an  otter.  Many  of  the 
poorer  inhabitants  train  their  large  dogs  not 
only  to  retrieve  ducks  shot  from  the  shore,  but 
also  to  assist  in  bringing  in  quantities  of  drift 
wood,  which  come  down  the  stream  with  "  a 
fresh."  Some  are  said  to  supply  themselves 
with  winter  fuel  in  this  way.  We  remember  to 
have  watched  with  interest,  from  the  Port  De- 
posit side,  the  efforts  of  a  large  cur  dog  to  tow  in 
a  fragment  of  lumber,  after  which  an  old  negro 
had  sent  him  out  into  the  stream.  The  log  was 
heavy,  some  distance  out,  and  the  river  on  the 
rise ;  for  some  moments  the  old  fellow  was  in  a 
state  of  great  excitement  between  hope  and  fear ; 
but  at  last  the  faithful  animal  succeeded  in  get- 
ting the  wood  into  the  eddy  off  shore,  when 
Pompey  showing  the  remains  of  his  teeth  in  a 
tremendous  grin,  jumped  into  a  shattered  and 
leaky  boat,  and  sculled  off  to  his  aid. 

The  next  morning  we  anchored  the  battery  on 
the  eastern  shore,  between  Havre  de  Grace  and 
Port,  off  Stump's  MilL  The  wind  was  easterly ; 
the  weather  cold  and  stormy  ;  and  a  great  many 
ducks  on  the  fly  down  the  river.  Your  ears 
were  constantly  saluted  with  the  rvhew  !  whew  ! 


248  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

of  the  widgeon — the  harsh  cry  of  the  south- 
southerly — the  whistling  wings  of  the  golden- 
eye — the  quack  of  the  butter-ball ;  and  you  were 
kept  constantly  on  the  alert,  knocking  over  can- 
vass-backs  and  red-heads,  until  near  noon,  when 
the  wind  increased  to  a  half  gale,  the  battery 
went  adrift,  the  scow  dragged  her  anchor  almost 
at  the  same  moment,  while  the  boat  was  off, 
and  for  a  while,  we  were,  as  sailors  say,  caught 
in  a  h^ap.  Giving  up  the  search  for  the  dead 
ducks,  we  pulled  might  and  main  for  the  battery, 
while  Fred  and  the  boy  lifted  the  scow's  anchor, 
and  hoisting  the  jib,  ran  closer  in  shore.  On  ap- 
proaching the  box,  we  found  McCullough  stand- 
ing knee  deep  in  water,  having  thrown  over- 
board all  his  iron,  after  driving  down  through 
the  decoys.  The  battery  had  then  brought  up, 
but  the  waves  were  making  a  clean  breach  over 
the  box,  and  the  stools  were  in  a  confused  state 
of  entanglement  and  disarray.  Some  had  been 
detached  from  their  weights  and  were  floating 
off,  or  going  on  to  the  lee  shore  to  caulk,  as  Davis 
expressed  it,  tumbling  about  on  the  waves  as  if 
in  joy  of  their  escape ;  others  were  foul  of  the 
anchors  under  the  frame  of  the  battery,  and  the 
rest  in  a  cumber;  while  the  wind  blew  stiffly,  in 
gusts,  from  the  heights  of  the  opposite  shore — 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  249 

the  river  grew  every  moment  more  rough,  and 
the  tall  frame  of  McCullough,  standing  ap- 
parently on  the  water,  and  actively  plying  boat- 
hook,  as  he  grappled  for  the  anchors,  reminded 
one  strangely  enough,  in  the  midst  of  the  scene, 
of  the  picture  of  Washington  crossing  a  river 
on  a  raft,  on  his  mission  to  Fort  Le  Beuf  in  the 
old  colonial  days.  Working  hard,  it  was  some 
time  before  we  secured  the  decoys  and  shipped 
the  battery,  when  after  taking  a  bumper  of  good 
old  Bourbon  all  round,  we  stood  over  towards 
Port,  beating,  scow-fashion,  broadside  as  often 
as  bow  on.  We  afterwards  heard  that  Baird 
and  several  other  shooters  below,  had  drifted 
completely  across  the  swash  in  their  batteries 
that  morning.  No  serious  accident  happened, 
and  so  far  as  we  are  informed,  no  case  of  drown- 
ing ever  occurred  in  the  batteries  on  the  Chesa- 
peake. The  case  to  which  Dr.  Lewis  refers  in 
his  article  on  duck  shooting,  was  occasioned  by 
the  sinking  of  an  old  yawl,  loaded  down  to  the 
water's  edge  with  stones,  as  a  substitute  for  a 
battery.  She  was  struck  by  a  sudden  flaw  of 
wind,  and,  of  course,  sunk,  drowning  her  occu- 
pant, who  either  from  inability  to  swim,  or  from 
some  unexplained  cause,  went  down  with  her 
in  eight  or  nine  feet  of  water. 


250  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Formerly  ducks  were  very  abundant  on  the 
western  shore  between  Port  Deposit  and  Havre 
de  Grace,  and  great  numbers  are  still  killed 
from  blinds  and  batteries,  from  the  bridge,  down 
to  Stump's  Point  at  the  mouth  of  Furnace  creek. 
The  digging  of  the  tide-water  canal,  however, 
drove  the  ducks  off  the  flats  and  marshes  of  the 
western  shore.  Below  Havre  de  Grace,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  swash,  near  Donahue's  bat- 
tery, is  good  canvass-back  and  red-head  ground. 
About  half  a  mile  from  the  battery,  to  the  east- 
ward, Mr.  Charles  Boyd  of  Havre  de  Grace, 
killed  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  canvass- 
backs,  on  the  tenth  day  of  November  last,  and 
we  have  been  assured  that  in  the  spring  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty,  the  same  famous 
duck-shooter  killed  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  canvass-back,  and  red-heads  off  the  mouth 
of  North-East  river,  three  or  four  miles  from 
the  battery.  On  the  same  day  on  which  Boyd 
killed  his  canvass-backs,  near  Donahue's  bat- 
tery, Mr.  John  Holly,  another  expert  duck-shot, 
belonging  to  the  same  place,  killed  one  hundred 
and  nineteen  of  the  same  species  011  Devil's 
Island ;  and  it  is  said  that  several  thousand 
ducks  were  brought  into  the  town  that  day,  by 
the  different  parties  engaged  in  shooting  on  the 
flats. 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  251 

The  next  night  we  sailed  for  the  Narrows  of 
Spesutia,  where  we  had  some  good  shooting 
from  the  battery  and  from  points.  We  were 
here  much  amused  with  the  deportment  of 
Davis,  who  seemed  to  move  his  eyes  as  on  a 
pivot,  while  watching  for  ducks  behind  the 
rushes,  keeping  his  head  steadily  fixed,  all 
alive  as  he  was,  espying,  giving  notice,  and 
knocking  them  down  as  if  born  to  the  business. 
He  was  also  at  home  in  sailing  and  managing 
the  scow,  and  for  picking  out  dead  ducks  from 
the  yawl  in  a  rough  sea,  his  eyes  were  not  to 
be  excelled,  except  perhaps  by  those  of  McC. 
who,  we  believe,  carried  a  chart  of  each  duck's 
drift  in  his  pocket.  While  harboring  in  one 
of  the  creeks  of  the  Narrows,  we  heard  the 
distant  booming  of  the  swivel  guns  of  the 
poachers,  who  "boat"  the  sleeping  flocks  by 
moonlight,  which  mode  of  killing  ducks,  though 
deservedly  executed,  has  still  a  spice  of  adven- 
ture in  it,  and  is  so  far  more  defensible  in  our 
eyes  than  the  old,  cold-blooded  practice  of 
strangling  them  in  the  meshes  of  gill  nets,  while 
diving  for  food  on  the  shoals. 

The  whole  accursed  French  system  of  net- 
ting ducks,  partridges,  and  other  birds,  is  well 
worthy  of  its  inventors,  and  although  we  do  not 


252  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

wish  to  be  considered  uncharitable,  we  cannot 
avoid  quoting  here  two  lines  of  Byron,  leaving 
the  reader  to  parody  if  he  thinks  proper. 
Speaking  of  Sir  Isaac  Walton,  his  lordship, 
who  detested  fishing,  says  : 

"The  quaint  old  coxcomb,  in  his  gullet 

Should  have  a  hook,  and  a  small  trout  to  pull  it." 

All  varieties  of  the  wild  duck  are  less  wary, 
and  possess  less  intelligence  than  the  Canada 
goose.  They  also  evince  much  less  affection 
for  each  other,  and  we  know  of  no  instance  of 
their  being  domesticated,  except  in  the  case  of 
the  anas  sponsa,  or  beautiful  summer  duck. 
Every  fowler  has  noticed  the  sort  of  family  in- 
terest which  exists  among  the  members  of  a 
flock  of  wild  geese,  which  frequently  leads  them 
to  halt,  follow  the  descent,  and  wait  upon  the 
motions  of  a  wounded  companion.  We  believe 
the  same  traits  have  been  observed  in  the 
American  swan.  Both  are  easily  domesticated, 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  the  tamed  wild  goose 
and  even  his  descendants,  although  herding  by 
day  with  the  domestic  goose,  show  a  disposition 
to  sleep  apart  from  the  flock  at  night.  We  first 
noticed  this  fact  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Andrew 
Lyons,  of  Cecil,  Maryland,  and  were  assured  by 
that  gentleman,  that  his  attention  had  been  fre- 


DUCK  SHOOTING.  253 

quently  drawn  to  the  same  peculiarity.  The 
goose  is  in  fact  the  most  wary  of  wild  fowl,  not 
excepting  the  swan,  with  which  they  are  often 
seen  associated.  It  is  said  that  the  latter  bird 
will  sleep  and  feed  without  fear,  if  surrounded 
by  the  former,  the  sentinels  of  which  are  ever 
on  the  qui  vive,  and  are  regularly  relieved  at 
stated  periods.  They  are  killed  on  our  shores 
over  decoys  from  ambuscades,  or  by  imitating 
their  honkings  as  the  flocks  pass  overhead. 
They  are  also  shot  in  stormy  weather  from 
points  on  the  Chesapeake  when  the  wind  shuts 
them  in  as  they  fly  up  and  down  the  bay. 
Many  geese  and  swans  have  been  killed  in  this 
way  at  Richett's  Point,  at  the  mouth  of  Gun- 
powder river. 


CANADA  GOOSE. 

ANAS  CANADENSIS. 

Description. — "  The  length  of  this  species  is 
three  feet;  extent,  five  feet  two  inches;  the  bill 
is  black ;  irides,  dark  hazel ;  upper  half  of  the 
neck,  black,  marked  on  the  chin  and  lower  part 
of  the  head  with  a  large  patch  of  white,  its  dis- 
tinguishing character;  lower  part  of  the  neck 
before,  white ;  back  and  wing-coverts,  brown, 
each  feather  tipped  with  whitish;  rump  and 
tail,  black;  tail-coverts  and  vent,  white;  prima- 
ries, black,  reaching  to  the  extremities  of  the 
tail ;  sides,  pale  ashy  brown ;  legs  and  feet, 
blackish  ash.  The  male  and  female  are  exactly 
alike  in  plumage." 

"The  Canada  goose,"  adds  Brewer,  "is  easily 
domesticated,  and  it  is  probable  that  most  of  the 
specimens  killed  in  Great  Britain  have  escaped 
from  preserves;  it  is  found,  however,  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  and  stragglers  may  occa- 
sionally occur.  On  the  beautiful  piece  of  water 
at  Gasford  House,  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of 


CANADA  GOOSE.  255 

Wemyss,  Haddingtonshire,  this  and  many  other 
water  birds  rear  their  young  freely.  I  have 
never  seen  any  artificial  piece  of  water,  so  beau- 
tifully adapted  for  the  domestication  and  intro- 
duction of  every  kind  of  water-fowl  which  will 
bear  the  climate  of  Great  Britain.  Of  very 
large  extent,  it  is  embossed  in  beautiful  shrub- 
bery, perfectly  recluse,  and,  even  in  the  nearly 
constant  observance  of  a  resident  family,  several 
exotic  species  seem  to  look  upon  it  as  their  own. 
The  Canada  and  Egyptian  geese  both  had 
young  when  I  visited  it,  and  the  lovely  anas 
sponsa  (summer  duck)  seemed  as  healthy  as  in 
her  native  waters." 

The  Potomac,  however,  is  the  grand  rendezvous 
of  geese  and  swans,  where  they  are  often  seen 
in  countless  multitudes  feeding  or  sanding  on 
the  bars,  and  are  shot  from  blinds  and  points. 
Great  numbers  of  ducks  are  also  slaughtered 
on  this  river  by  swivel  guns  at  night.  The  pad- 
dler  lies  flat  on  his  breast,  and  the  propelling  of 
the  boat  in  this  situation  is  laborious  and  dis- 
tressing work.  A  duck  shooter  once  informed 
us,  that  having  been  paddled  for  some  distance 
close  to  an  immense  flock  of  canvass-backs,  rid- 
ing as  at  anchor  with  their  heads  under  their 
wings,  at  the  mouth  of  a  creek,  he  discharged 


256  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

his  heavy  gun  in  the  midst,  making  tremen- 
dous slaughter ;  observing  that  his  companion 
did  not  rise  from  his  recumbent  position  at  the 
report,  he  spoke  to  and  touched  him,  but  he  did 
not  answer  or  stir ;  and  upon  turning  him  up 
and  looking  in  his  face,  he  perceived  that  he 
was  dead.  The  man,  probably,  had  some 
organic  disease  of  the  heart. 

Although  the  men  of  the  Chesapeake  scruple 
not  to  aver  that  we  have  no  wild  fowl  shooting 
worthy  of  the  name,  on  the  Delaware,  for  all 
that,  as  we  sit  in  our  sanctum,  we  seem  to  see, 
with  prophetic  eye,  a  host  of  grizzled,  weather- 
beaten  faces  ready  to  start  up,  amid  a  terrible 
quacking  and  honking,  to  tell  them  a  different 
tale.  In  fact,  it  is  upon  the  Delaware,  that  the 
greatest  skill  and  fertility  of  stratagem  are 
brought  into  play,  in  paddling  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage upon  the  watchful  mallard,  (arias 
boschas) — the  wary  black  duck,  (anas  obsura) 
— the  shy  sprig-tail,  (anas  acuta) — the  swift 
butter-ball  or  buffel-headed  duck,  (anas  albeola) 
— the  lively  blue-bill  or  scaup  duck,  (anas 
marilla) — the  restless  south-southerly,  (anas 
glacialis) — the  delicate  little  teal  of  either  va- 
riety, and  many  others.  Until  the  sportsman 
has  laid  his  ear,  as  it  \vere,  to  the  light  ripple 


CANADA  GOOSE.  257 

at  the  bow  of  his  skiff,  as  propelled  by  the  prac- 
tised hand  of  the  paddler,  she  goes  gliding  on 
to  the  wary  fowl, — and  has  waited  in  breathless 
suspense  for  the  significant  touch,  which  bids 
him  rise  and  deliver  his  tire  in  the  midst  of  the 
startled  rank, — and  after  boating  the  dead  and 
wounded,  has  re-loaded  the  big  gun  and  again 
stretched  to  his  oars;  or  until  he  has  floated 
down  in  his  whitened  skiff  among  the  drifting 
ice,  within  raking  distance  of  the  flock,  or,  per- 
haps, close  to  the  snow-cake  where  the  ducks 
set  huddled  in  the  sun — until  he  has  done  this, 
he  has  by  no  means  fathomed  all  the  sweet  mys- 
teries of  fowl  shooting,  although  he  may  have 
annually  killed  countless  scores  of  nobler  game, 
from  the  floating  batteries,  or  the  famous  point- 
preserves  of  the  Chesapeake. 

How  often  has  the  fowler  on  the  Delaware 
had  occasion  to  remark,  that  the  single  circum- 
stance of  the  drift  of  the  disguised  skiff,  being 
greater  than  that  of  the  masses  of  ice  among 
which  it  floats,  has  alarmed  the  wary  geese  on 
which  he  was  stealing  with  the  tide,  assisted  by 
an  almost  imperceptible  motion  of  the  paddle, 
and  how  often,  after  having  unshipped  his  oars, 
arid  laid  himself  flat  on  his  face  in  his  floating 
ambuscade,  has  he  been  disappointed  of  a  glori- 


253  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

ous  shot,  by  the  untimely  presence  of  a  single 
black-duck  among  a  flock  of  mallards  or  teal. 
Again,  on  the  other  hand,  how  often,  after  hav- 
ing arranged  his  reserved  guns,  and  taken  a  last 
look  at  the  locks  of  his  long  torn,  has  he  been 
paddled  by  the  cunning  hand  of  a  Wilson,  a 
Stinsman,  an  Everly  or  a  Conner,  under  the 
cover  of  some  sinuosity  in  the  shore,  into  the 
very  midst  of  a  flock  of  sprig-tails,  feeding  on 
the  edge  of  a  flat,  at  the  bottom  of  some  unfre- 
quented cove ;  and  rising  with  mischief  in  his 
heart,  has  poured  the  contents  of  the  deadly 
barrels  in  the  thick  of  the  affrighted  game, 
which,  as  if  appalled  at  the  sudden  ap- 
pearance of  their  enemy,  cluster  confusedly  to- 
gether as  they  rise :  or  early  in  October,  how 
often  has  he  dropped  down  the  river  on  some 
clear,  moonlight  night,  to  set  his  stools,  by  the 
first  glimmer  of  dawn,  on  the  upper  end  of  Tini- 
cum  or  Maiden  islands,  or  upon  Martin's  or 
Smith's  bars,  or  some  equally  faArorable  spot  for 
the  flight  of  the  dusky  duck,  or  the  blue-winged 
teal.  Having  hidden  the  skiff  on  the  reedy 
marsh,  and  heard  the  whir  and  rvhiz  of  passing 
wings  before  it  was  yet  sufficiently  light  to 
shoot,  as  day  breaks  and  the  stools  are  more  dis- 
tinctly seen  riding  on  the  misty  tide,  with  a 


CANADA  GOOSE.  259 

beating  heart  he  beholds  a  large  flock  of  teal 
drop  as  if  from  the  clouds  among  the  rank,  and 
at  once  raking  them  where  they  sit  in  the 
thickest  cluster,  discharges  his  second  barrel 
with  deadly  effect  as  they  rise.  After  this,  per- 
haps, as  the  sky  grows  still  clearer,  looking 
towards  the  eastern  horizon,  he  sees  just  above 
the  rising  sun  a  small  black  cloud  no  bigger 
than  his  hand;  as  he  looks  it  becomes  appa- 
rently larger,  when  not  daring  to  move  hand  or 
foot  or  even  an  eyelid,  he  lies  close  as  death 
itself;  with  his  finger  on  the  guard,  waiting  for 
the  instant  to  fire  at  the  ranks  of  the  dusky  duck. 
If  the  morning  be  still  and  calm  they  will  most 
probably  soar  too  high  for  his  piece;  but,  perhaps, 
the  winds  blow  a  half  a  gale  over  the  troubled 
expanse  of  water  and  the  decaying  herbage  of 
the  shore ;  in  that  case  they  will  stool  or  fly 
low,  and  if  he  shoots  at  the  proper  moment,  be 
almost  certain  to  pay  toll.  A  little  later  in  the 
morning,  while  sailing  up  the  river  towards  the 
New  Bar — the  ducks  having  ceased  to  stool 
below — the  shooter  espies  some  dark  object 
moving  on  the  edge  of  the  marshy  shore ;  ex- 
amined with  a  spy-glass,  it  proves  to  be  a  little 
blue-winged  teal  apparently  playing  in  circles 
on  the  water ;  the  mast  is  instantly  struck ; 


260  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

upon  looking  again,  perhaps,  a  second  bird  is 
seen  engaged  in  the  same  playful  manoeuvres ; 
and  a  few  yards  further  up  on  the  mud,  close  to 
the  reeds  or  spatter-docks,  the  whole  flock  is 
discovered  sitting  in  close  companionship  in  the 
sun.  They  are  probably  fast  asleep ;  the  out- 
siders carelessly  swimming  on  the  water  are  the 
sentries;  and  to  approach  the  flock  without 
alarming  these,  is  the  point.  In  this  case,  the 
shooter  either  lands  at  a  distance  and  pushes 
the  skiff  before  him  over  the  flat,  concealing 
himself  as  much  as  possible  behind  her,  and 
thus  silently  and  laboriously  works  within  shot ; 
or  trusting  to  the  skill  of  the  paddler,  he  lies 
close  in  the  boat,  which  is  slowly  and  stealthily 
propelled  in  the  direction  of  the  game,  until, 
perhaps,  a  distance  not  exceeding  the  point 
blank  range  of  an  ordinary  fowling  piece  is 
attained,  and  death  descends  in  a  leaden 
shower  on  the  sleepers,  whom  the  sports  of 
their  heedless  companions  have  betrayed.  In 
fact,  though  shooting  from  the  battery  is  suffi- 
ciently exciting,  when  the  game  comes  fast  to 
the  decoys,  it  cannot  compare  in  point  of  ad- 
venture and  interest  with  paddle  shooting  as 
practised  on  the  Delaware. 

We  have,  indeed,  spent  many  a  joyous  hour, 


CANADA  GOOSE.  261 

blazing  away  from  the  ambuscade  at  the  noble 
ducks  of  the  Chesapeake ;  or  lying  in  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  with  Port  Deposit  and  its  heights  in 
sight,  listening  to  the  lip-lap  of  the  slight  surge 
at  our  ears — or,  perhaps,  watching  the  curious 
little  water- witch,*  as  she  suddenly  emerged 
among  the  stools,  swimming  warily  round  and 
round  the  battery,  as  if  sent  out  on  a  reconnoi- 
tering  excursion  from  a  rank  of  canvass-backs, 
which  rode  the  ripples  at  a  distance  off  Mount 
Ararat  ;f — but  for  all  this,  we  shall  never  know 
again  the  supreme  delight  with  which  we  bent 
to  our  oars  among  the  drifting  masses  of  ice  and 
snow,  and  listened  to  the  "  bald,  disjointed  chat" 
of  the  paddler,  on  some  sunny,  mid-winter's 
morn;  or  suspended  stroke  as  his  experienced 
eye  caught  some  dark  object  on  the  ice,  which 
the  glass  revealed  to  be  a  flock  of  sprig-tails 
basking  in  the  sun  ;  or  examined  the  guns,  and 
laid  us  down  to  drift  on  in  silent  expectancy 
only  broken  by  the  wary  whispers  of  our  com- 
panion— the  caw  of  some  hungry  crow,  or  the 
thump  of  a  passing  cake  on  the  skiff's  bow  ;  or 
started  up  at  his  signal  to  deal  death  and  con- 
sternation among  the  affrighted  objects  of  our 

*  Pied-bill  Dob-chick — Podiceps  Carolinensis. 
f  A  height  so  called  near  Port  Deposit. 

17 


262  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

aim,  and  rejoicing  in  the  sport,  boated  the  birds, 
re-loaded  the  guns,  and  again  stretched  away  to 
the  oars  to  keep  the  brisk  blood  in  full  flow : 
gentle  reader  there  is  a  rare  pleasure  in  this, 
which  the  thirst  for  preference,  or  the  absorbing 
desire  of  gain  never  can  bestow — a  pleasure  with 
which  the  most  successful  day's  shooting  from 
the  battery,  can  never  compare.  Much  skill  and 
presence  of  mind  are,  however,  required  in  box- 
shooting,  and  we  would  advise  every  sportsman 
who  has  never  been  placed  in  this  peculiar  posi- 
tion, to  give  it  a  trial  for  once.  He  need  not  be 
concerned  if  unprovided  with  a  life-preserver, 
since  in  spite  of  their  serious  recommendation 
by  a  recent  writer,  we  assure  him  that  the  dan- 
ger is  less  than  that  which  every  mortal  expe- 
riences, in  crossing  the  Delaware  in  a  ferry 
boat. 

To  those  who  have  leisure  and  a  desire  to 
engage  in  paddle-shooting,  we  say  go  to  Krider's 
and  select  one  of  his  splendid  double  ducking 
guns ;  purchase  a  good  skiff  writh  her  appurte- 
nances complete ;  hire  an  expert  paddler,  and 
our  word  for  it,  you  will  find  the  sport  one  of  the 
most  invigorating  and  delightful  recreations  in 
the  world.  The  agreeable  change  of  element — 
the  pleasurable  thrill  which  almost  every  one 


CANADA  GOOSE.  263 

feels  afloat — the  healthful  exercise  in  the  bracing 
air — the  extent  of  prospect,  and  the  lurking  de- 
sire for  burning  friar  Bacon's  astounding  com- 
pound in  something  of  a  little  larger  calibre  than 
your  snipe  gun,  are  amply  sufficient  to  drive  oif 
ennui,  malaise,  or  any  other  moping  malady 
with  a  French  name,  which  fashionable  flesh  is 
heir  to.  Besides  this,  you  have  the  wary  game 
ahead,  and  that  argus-eyed,  grizzly-pated  mortal 
astern,  with  stores  and  stores  of  fowling  experi- 
ence under  his  wild  and  weather-beaten  front,  if 
so  you  have  tact  enough  to  draw  him  out.  It  is 
rather  superfluous,  to  say  nothing  of  savoring  a 
little  of  self-conceit,  for  some  sporting  writers  of 
the  day  to  expatiate  at  such  remarkable  length, 
on  the  dreadful  hardships  and  direful  dangers  of 
duck-shooting.  .  . 

To  listen  to  such  hyperborean  arguments  as 
"  pelting  rains,"  "driving  snows,"  "whistling 
winds,"  and  "freezing  waters," — followed  up  by 
"wardrobes  of  water-proof  coats,"  "legions  of 
stout  hearts,"  and  "life  preservers;"  one  would 
almost  suppose  that  they  were  bound  on  a  cruise 
to  Nova  Zembla,  or  the  North  Pole ;  whereas  all 
this;  comical  parade  of  old  winter's  icy  attributes 
shrinks  into  mere  verbiage,  when  compared  with 
the  exulting  sense  of  the  real  thing  itself.  Give 


264  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

us,  gentlemen,  all  your  experience  in  shooting ; 
initiate  us  a  little  into  the  mystery  of  those  fasci- 
nating pursuits,  which  possess  such  seductive 
charms  for  one-third  of  mankind ;  but,  for  mercy 
sake,  do  not  frighten  us  tyros,  ye  old  campaigners, 
with  ominous  hints  of  undivulged  but  awful  ex- 
posures— piteous  descriptions  of  over-night  double 
B  tricks  upon  travellers,  the  mere  thoughts  of 
which  are  enough  to  make  one's  blood  creep. 
The  truth  is,  there  is  no  sport,  with  which  we 
are  acquainted,  better  adapted  to  set  up  mind 
and  bod\r,  and  we  know  of  more  lives  than  one 
saved  by  paddle-shooting  on  the  Delaware. 

On  the  flats  canvass-backs  may  be  distin- 
guished from  other  ducks  by  their  incessant 
diving,  and  in  the  air  they  are  known  by  the 
wedge-like  shape  which  the  flock  assumes,  and 
the  superior  altitude  of  their  flight  to  and  from 
the  feeding  grounds.  The  shooters  on  the 
Chesapeake  recognize  them  with  the  naked  eye 
a  great  distance.  We  were  assured  by  a 
veteran  sportsman  that,  under  the  cover  of  the 
long,  thick  grass  which  covers  a  large  portion 
of  the  island  of  Spesutia,  he  was  once  enabled 
to  approach,  on  the  leeward  shore,  within  fifty 
yards  of  a  large  flock  composed  entirely  of  this 
noble  wild  fowl.  He  described  them  as  wholly 


CANADA  GOOSE.  265 

unsuspicious  of  his  proximity  on  the  point, 
being  constantly  engaged  in  diving  and  re- 
appearing, while  the  water  around  was  mud- 
died and  strewn  with  blades  of  grass,  which 
they  had  torn  up  from  the  shoal.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  an  occasional  squabble  when  one 
individual  endeavored  to  rob  another  of  its  prize, 
they  were  very  silent;  but  had  there  been  a 
number  of  widgeons  or  red-heads  among  them, 
our  informant  supposed  the  harmony  of  the  feast 
had  been  more  frequently  disturbed.  Occasion- 
ally an  old  duck  raised  its  body  on  the  water, 
and  seemed  to  look  warily  around ;  then,  as 
another  came  up  beside  it,  the  former  took  its 
turn  at  diving,  so  that  the  whole  flock  was  never 
at  one  moment  beneath  the  surface.  On  the  in- 
ner edge  of  the  rank,  between  it  and  the  shore,  a 
pair  of  little  buffel-headed  ducks  were  feeding 
on  the  floating  grass,  but  seemed  careful  in  their 
motions  not  to  come  in  contact  with  the  larger 
species. 

The  canvass-back  and  the  red-head  breed  far 
to  the  north.  The  nest  of  the  former,  it  is  said, 
has  been  found  in  upper  California,  and  upon 
the  banks  and  marshes  of  various  streams  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  They  appear  in  the  Chesa- 
peake towards  the  latter  part  of  October,  and 


266  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

about  this  period  a  few  stragglers  are  occasionally 
met  with  in  the  Delaware  We  have,  ourselves, 
been  paddled  within  gunshot  of  single  indivi- 
duals of  the  former  variety,  near  the  old  locality 
mentioned  by  Wilson,  between  Red  Bank  and 
Gloucester  Point.  Large  numbers  are  killed  by 
the  men  of  Havre  de  Grace  on  their  first  day's 
excursion ;  they  are  then,  however,  compara- 
tively thin  and  tasteless,  but  soon  begin  to  im- 
prove in  condition  by  feeding  upon  the  valisi- 
neria,  which  gives  the  true  epicurean  flavor  to 
their  flesh.  The  immense  multitudes,  which, 
in  Wilson's  time,  covered  acres  and  acres  of  the 
Susquehanna,  and  produced  a  noise  resembling 
thunder  as  they  rose  in  a  body,  are  no  longer 
seen ;  occasionally  they  are  observed  in  the  dis- 
tance, darkening  a  portion  of  the  sky,  in  a  man- 
ner which  recalls  the  descriptions  of  departed 
days ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  from  local 
causes,  the  number  of  the  choicest  ducks  which 
visit  these  waters  are  decreasing  year  after  year. 
Among  these  causes  may  be  mentioned  the  in- 
troduction of  steam  navigation,  the  relative 
changes  which  are  taking  place  on  the  shores  of 
the  river  and  bay,  consequent  upon  an  increase 
of  population  and  trade,  and  the  annoyances  to 
which  the  ducks  are  subjected,  from  the  opera- 


CANADA  GOOSE.  267 

tions  of  the  batteries  on  the  feeding  grounds. 
It  is  not  their  entire  extinction  as  a  species  which 
is  to  be  apprehended  at  the  present  day,  breed- 
ing so  prolifically  as  they  do  in  the  desolate  and 
solitary  regions  of  the  north ;  indeed  many  years 
may  elapse  before  they  are  even  driven  from  the 
flats,  on  which  their  favorite  food  in  such  pro- 
fusion abounds ;  in  the  growing  dislike  of  the 
democracy  of  the  land  to  aught  in  the  shape  of 
restrictive  game  laws,  it  is  not  very  probable  that 
the  honorable  legislators  of  Maryland  can  be 
brought  to  look  so  far  into  futurity,  as  to  provide 
acts  by  which  wild  fowl — especially  canvass- 
backs — may  be  allowed  to  take  their  food  in 
peace ;  in  the  meantime,  gentlemen  will  shoot, 
and  professionals  strain  every  nerve  to  keep  the 
market  supplied,  while  posterity  must  look  out 
for  itself;  consequently,  every  year  the  firing 
from  point,  blind  and  battery  is  redoubled,  and 
every  year  the  voice  of  remonstrance  from  those 
citizens,  who  would  fain  see  something  done  in 
the  season,  to  preserve  this  noble  American 
duck  from  being  driven  entirely  from  the  waters 
of  the  state,  becomes  less  and  less  distinct. 

Shooting  from  the  points  or  bars,  over  which 
the  ducks  fly  on  their  way  to  the  flats,  is  claimed 
by  many  as  the  only  sportsmanlike  and  legiti- 


268  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

mate  mode  of  killing  canvass- backs.  For  our- 
selves, the  sport  is  not  much  to  our  taste.  We 
had  much  rather  be  paddled  on  the  flocks,  not 
with  a  ton  of  iron  in  the  bow.  but  a  sizeable  gun, 

7  O  ' 

such  as  a  man  may  readily  handle  and  kill  his 
ducks  with  at  sixty  or  eighty  yards.  But  as 
this  would  be  equally  objectionable  with  the 
sunken  batteries,  of  course  it  would  not  be  tole- 
rated if  the  latter  were  once  put  down.  If  the 
ducks  are  thick  on  a  fly  and  come  well  up  to  the 
point,  no  doubt  they  afford  considerable  amuse- 
ment for  a  short  time,  and  require  some  little 
knowledge  in  the  art  of  shooting,  to  strike  them 
to  the  best  effect  in  their  rapid  and  rushing 
course.  The  sigbt  of  a  falling  duck  thus  stop- 
ped and  precipitated  from  a  vast  height,  is  said 
to  be  a  fine  sight,  provided  you  are  cool  enough 
to  enjoy  it  in  the  thick  of  the  thing,  when  no- 
thing but  loading  and  firing  a  la  mode  is  the 
order  of  the  hour. 

The  singular  process  of  tolling,  which  was  the 
most  successful  of  all  the  modes  of  killing  can- 
vass-backs  in  the  time  of  Wilson,  when  the 
ducks  were  not  only  much  more  numerous,  but 
fed  closer  to  the  shore,  is  now  comparatively 
little  resorted  to,  except  on  Bush  and  Gunpow- 
der rivers,  and  only  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  early 


CANADA  GOOSE.  269 

part  of  the  season.  The  celebrated  naturalist 
just  named,  mentions  a  curious  fact  connected 
with  the  history  of  this  duck,  which  shows  how 
strong  is  its  partiality  for  that  particular  species 
of  grass,  on  which  it  comes  annually,  so  many 
hundreds  of  leagues  to  feed. 

"  In  the  severe  winter  of  seventeen  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  and  eighty,"  he  says,  "  the 
grass,  on  the  roots  of  which  these  birds  feed,  was 
almost  wholly  destroyed  in  the  James  river.  In 
the  month  of  January,  the  wind  continued  to 
blow  from  W.  N.  W.  for  twenty-one  days, 
which  caused  such  low  tides  in  the  river,  that 
the  grass  froze  to  the  ice  every  where,  and,  a 
thaw  coming  on  suddenly,  the  whole  was  raised 
by  the  roots  and  carried  off  by  a  fresh.  The 
next  winter  a  few  of  these  ducks  were  seen,  but 
they  soon  went  away  again;  and,  for  many 
years  after,  they  continued  to  be  scarce;. and, 
even  to  the  present  'day,  in  the  opinion  of 
my  informant,  have  never  'been  as  plenty  as 
before." 

The  canvass-back  seldom  wanders  far  along 
the  course  of  the  rivers  which  empty  into  the 
Chesapeake,  but  the  red-head,  although  delight- 
ing also  in  the  head-waters  of  the  bay,  is  often 
shot  a  considerable  distance  up  the  Susquehanna. 


270  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

Freshets,  to  which  the  shallow  waters  of  the 
river  are  constantly  liable,  drive  the  ducks,  for 
the  time,  into  the  lower  bay,  where  they  feed 
upon  eel-grass,  small  fish,  and  scaup.  Very 
severe  weather  reduces  them  to  great  extremities, 
by  freezing  the  water  over  the  flats,  and  cutting 
them  off  from  the  celery  grass.  Advantage  is 
sometimes  taken  of  this  by  the  shooters,  who  cut 
large  holes  in  the  ice  over  the  shoals,  and  firing 
from  an  ambuscade  at  the  ducks  which  eagerly 
congregate  around  these  spots,  commit  terrible 
havoc.  They  dart  well  to  the  decoys  in  a  snow- 
storm, indifferently  in  a  calm,  or  when  the  wind 
and  tide  are  contrary,  and  always  best  in  the 
early  part  of  the  da}'-,  and  an  hour  or  two  before 
sunset. 

Their  nights  are  much  regulated  by  the  state 
of  wind  and  weather,  and  it  is  said  that  some 
shooters,  by  paying  close  attention  to  the  signs, 
will  go  out  after  sunrise,  and,  selecting  a  judicious 
position  for  their  batteries,  often  kill  more  ducks 
in  a  few  hours,  than  those  who  have  been  astir 
long  before  the  first  glimmer  of  dawn.  This  is 
remarked  especially  of  the  Boyds  of  Havre  de 
Grace,  one  brother  of  the  two  being  noted  for 
his  judgment  in  placing  the  box,  and  the  other 
for  his  skill  in  levelling  the  ducks. 

O 


CANADA  GOOSE.  271 

It  is  now  known  that  in  their  southern  migra- 
tions, canvass-backs,  to  a  certain  extent,  follow 
the  line  of  the  coast,  having  been  seen  in  great 
numbers,  according  to  Dr.  Lewis,  as  far  south  as 
Galveston  Bay. 

About  the  first  of  April,  sooner  or  later,  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  the  season,  the  ducks 
are  observed  to  collect  in  great  flocks,  and  after 
sweeping  round  and  round  the  feeding  grounds, 
to  ascend  to  a  vast  height,  and  thence  direct 
their  flight  due  north.  Previous  to  this  every 
individual  has  visited  the  shores  or  bars,  and 
filled  its  gizzard  with  sand,  in  order,  as  we  sup- 
pose, to  prevent  a  collapse  of  this  organ  during 
their  long  journeys  through  the  air.  Small 
squads  of  canvass-backs  have  been  seen  in  the 
vicinity  of  Spesutia  as  late  as  the  middle  of  July. 
These,  of  course,  were  composed  of  individuals 
crippled  by  the  shooters  and  rendered  unable  to 
migrate. 


PIGEON-MATCH   SHOOTING. 

Club  pigeon-matches  appear  to  have  gone  out 
of  date  in  Philadelphia,  though  public  and 
private  matches  are  still  common.  We  hear 
now,  however,  of  the  existence  of  no  such  clubs 
as  were  accustomed,  formerly  to  meet  once  a 
week  at  Heft's  and  elsewhere.  The  Philadel- 
phia Sporting  Club,  which  was  formed  some 
years  ago  exclusively  of  Krider's  customers,  is 
defunct,  and  all  attempts  to  revive  it  have  as 
yet  proved  ineffectual.  If  we  ask  where  are  the 
hearts  who  once  shone  on  the  shooting  ground, 
and  at  the  jovial  board,  and  were  the  leaders 
in  many  a  mad  prank,  a  voice,  very  like  that 
of  the  venerable  foreman  of  the  establishment, 
answers  hollowly  as  a  ghost ;  "  some  abroad — 
some  in  their  graves — some  metamorphosed 
into  careful  men  of  business — some,  like  myself, 
white  with  the  frosts  of  years,  and  '  wrinkled 
deep  in  time.' '  Nevertheless  the  old  fellow, 
who  has  lived  to  become  one  of  the  fixtures  of 
the  place,  is  still  hale  and  hearty,  and  may  yet 


PIGEON-MATCH  SHOOTING.  273 

survive  some  of  us  representatives  of  the  rising 
generation. 

Many  of  the  private  matches  of  the  day  have 
emanated  from  Krider's,  and  at  some  of  these 
we  have  witnessed  shooting,  which  might  com- 
pare favorably  with  the  exploits  at  the  Old  Hats, 
the  Red  House  or  any  other  ancient  place  of 
meeting  for  the  English  Sporting  Clubs.  The 

late  Mr.  S n  was  a  celebrated  pigeon  shot. 

Messrs.  F.  G.  and  C.  J.  Wolbert,  Jr.,  Major  Flom- 
merfelt,  Dr.  Sartori,  and  many  others  are  also 
very  sure.  Of  the  professed  shooters,  Mr.  D. 
Wills  is  perhaps  the  best  in  the  state,  either  at 
single  or  double  birds.  The  spring-trap  is  now 
comparatively  little  used;  being  considered  by 
practised  pigeon  shooters  to  give  the  bird  too 
little  chance  of  escape.  At  the  public  matches, 
some  of  the  old  rules  still  in  force  are  objec- 
tionable, and  often  give  rise  to  dispute.  The 
charges  should  always  be  limited  to  an  ounce 
and  a  half  of  shot,  which  throws  ducking-guns 
and  demi-rakers  out  of  play,  and  places  all  bar- 
rels of  a  moderate  guage  on  a  par.  The  judge 
should  also  examine  the  birds  to  be  shot  at,  be- 
fore the  match  begins,  and  reject  all  such  as  are 
not  strong  and  well  fledged.  Such  as  still  have 
the  squab-cry  should  never  be  allowed  to  any 


274  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

shooter,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent.  We  have  seen 
a  bird  adjudged  to  a  fellow  who  had  over-shot  it, 
entirely  because  it  had  been  gathered  within  the 
bounds,  solely  from  its  inability  to  fly  out  of  them. 
It  would  be  well  if  one  person  should  have  the 
handling  and  gathering  of  the  birds.  He  should 
also  pull  the  string  of  the  trap,  and  should  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  judge  on  the  ground.  The  latter 
should  always  ask  the  shooter  if  he  is  ready, 
and  upon  being  answered  in  the  affirmative, 
should,  himself,  give  the  word  to  the  runner  to 
let  the  bird  fly.  The  runner  should  not  stir  to 
gather  a  bird  until  ordered  by  the  judge.  In  a 
doubtful  case,  the  direct  distance  should  be  mea- 
sured by  the  judge  with  a  graduated  line,  and  in 
doing  this  he  may  be  assisted  by  the  person  who 
gathers  the  birds.  No  person  except  the  arbiter 
and  the  runner,  should  be  allowed  to  address  or 
stand  within  ten  feet  of  the  shooter,  after  he  has 
taken  his  post,  and,  of  course,  the  shooter  should 
heel  the  mark  and  keep  the  butt  of  his  gun 
down  until  the  birds  rise.  If  a  bird  refuses  to 
fly  after  a  trap  is  sprung,  the  shooter  should 
wait  two  minutes  by  the  watch  of  the  judge  ;  he 
should  then  hand  his  gun  to  the  runner  to  shoot 
the  bird  on  the  ground,  and  a  second  bird  should 
be  placed  in  the  trap,  as  soon  as  the  same  marks- 


PIGEON-MATCH  SHOOTIXG.  275 

man  is  prepared  to  shoot.  No  bird  should  be 
placed  in  the  trap,  until  it  is  distinctly  ascer- 
tained by  the  arbiter  that  the  shooter  is  ready 
to  take  his  stand,  and  every  bird  should  be 
placed  with  its  head  from  the  crowd.  If  the 
judge  has  any  doubts  about  a  bird  gathered 
within  the  bounds,  he  should  examine  the  bird 
himself,  and  give  his  opinion  accordingly.  The 
shooters  should  each  charge  their  guns  under  the 
inspection  of  the  judge,  as  soon  as  their  names 
have  been  called  by  lottery.  In  gathering  a 
bird,  the  person  appointed  may  go  outside  of  it, 
but  he  should  on  no  account  be  allowed  to  strike 
it  with  a  missle  of  any  kind.  If  it  should  alight 
on  a  tree  within  the  bounds,  he  may  climb  the 
tree  or  send  up  a  boy  for  the  purpose,  but  the 
bird,  to  count  on  the  score  in  favor  of  the  shooter, 
must  be  fairly  gathered  with  the  hands.  If  a 
bird  walk  from  the  trap  and  away  from  the 
shooter,  within  the  two  minutes  assigned,  he  may 
advance  or  not  at  the  discretion  of  the  judge, 
who  should,  however,  always  endeavor  to  pre- 
serve the  relative  distance  of  the  shooter  and  the 
mark.  No  missies  should  be  thrown  on  the 
bird's  refusing  to  rise,  except  at  the  order  of  the 
judge.  His  decision  in  all  cases  should  be  de- 
cisive on  the  ground.  The  ties  should  be  shot 


276  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

off,  alternately,  bird  for  bird,  unless  some  previ- 
ous arrangement  should  exist  among  the  shooters. 
All  dogs  and  outsiders  should  be  warned  without 
the  bounds,  before  the  shooting  commences,  and 
if,  in  the  opinion  of  the  judge,  a  shooter  is  any 
way  interfered  with,  he  must  be  allowed  another 
bird.  There  may  be  one  or  two  judges  ap- 
pointed by  the  makers  of  the  match,  though  it  is 
better  in  our  opinion  to  have  but  one.  Eighty 
yards  limit  and  twenty-one  yards  rise  for  single 
birds,  with  fifteen  for  double,  are  the  usual  dis- 
tances in  this  country,  though  we  believe  the 
rules  of  the  old  English  clubs  allowed  twenty 
yards  more  to  the  bounds.  It  appears  to  us  that 
in  private  matches  with  double  birds,  two  traps 
should  be  used,  placed  at  least  five  yards  apart. 
This  would  lessen  the  liability  of  both  birds  being 
killed  by  one  barrel,  and  spring-traps  being  used 
in  this  case,  and  sprung  precisely  at  the  same 
moment,  would  give  fair  double  shots  to  each 
shooter,  and  bring  his  skill  more  decidedly  into 
play,  as  the  pith  of  the  sport  consists  in  the 
strength  with  which  the  birds  fly.  The  passen- 
ger pigeon  (Columba  migratoria)  has  been  fre- 
quently shot  from  traps  in  this  country,  and  when 
not  disabled  by  confinement,  affords  excellent 
sport.  It  flies  very  swiftly,  and,  in  general, 


PIGEON-MATCH  SHOOTING.  277 

straight  from  the  trap,  and  cannot  be  brought 
down  unless  covered  immediately.  They  should, 
however,  be  used  for  this  purpose  as  soon  as 
possible  after  being  netted,  as  they  soon  beat 
themselves  to  pieces  in  captivity. 

The  English  wire  cartridges,  which  have 
been  used  to  a  considerable  extent  in  pigeon 
matches  abroad,  have  not  obtained  much  favor 
in  this  country.  We  have  never  used  them 
either  in  matches  or  in  duck  shooting.  Shot 
cartridges,  however,  are  held  in  little  esteem  by 
the  duck  shooters  of  the  Chesapeake. 


13 


FIELD   DOGS. 

BLENDING  OF  STOCKS. 

We  shall  confine  our  remarks  concerning  the 
mixed  breed,  to  the  pointer  and  setter,  reserving 
a  regular  treatise  upon  the  sporting  dogs  of 
America  for  some  future  occasion.  We  could 
heartily  wish  that  a  period  should  be  put  to  the 
practice  of  crossing  these  two  varieties,  at  least 
for  the  present.  It  has  so  extensively  prevailed 
among  us,  that  comparatively  few  dogs  of  pure 
stock  are  now  to  be  had,  and  both  products  of 
the  cross  have  degenerated  to  a  certain  extent. 

For  the  pointer,  we  doubt  if,  as  a  rule,  his 
professional  qualities  have  been  improved  by  his 
relationship  either  with  the  setter  or  the  fox- 
hound. An  uncommonly  fine  animal  does  oc- 
casionally occur,  but  the  instances  are  few  and 
far  between.  The  same  remark  may  be  made 
of  the  setter.  Indeed,  as  far  as  our  experience 
serves  us,  for  one  really  good  dog  of  the  mixed 
breed,  we  have  seen,  perhaps,  twenty,  which 
were  entirely  worthless,  or  showed  something 
outre  and  malapropos  in  their  conduct  in  the 


FIELD  DOGS.  279 

field.  If  the  setter  gains  any  thing  in  steadi- 
ness by  his  relations-hip  to  the  pointer,  he  loses 
in  beauty,  range  and  dash;  while  the  pointer's 
style  of  quartering  his  ground  is  often  lost  in 
the  cross,  degenerating  into  a  loping,  desultory 
gallop,  like  that  of  a  wolf. 

The  setter,  too,  loses  much  of  his  symmetry 
and  feathery  elegance  of  form,  and  the  pointer 
of  his  clean,  thorough-bred  air  and  astute  look. 
Both  are  less  easily  subjected  to  discipline,  and 
less  reliable  than  dogs  of  pure  stock.  A  pro- 
pensity to  hunt  in  a  line,  to  rake,  and  crouch 
on  their  game,  are  also  observed  in  the  mixed 
breed.  Besides  they  are  apt  to  prove  wilful 
and  unsteady,  especially  in  company  with 
strange  dogs ;  you  will  find  them  behaving  tole- 
rably well  to-day,  and  as  wild  as  runaway 
mules  to-morrow. 

An  acquaintance  of  ours  has  now  in  his  pos- 
session a  smooth  dog  of  the  mixed  breed,  whose 
eccentricities  in  the  field  set  all  calculations  on 
his  day's  performance  at  defiance.  A  wide 
ranger,  he  is  seen  standing  snipe  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, sometimes  steadily  enough,  but  more  fre- 
quently doing  mischief,  not  by  actually  driving 
the  game  up,  but  by  becoming  restless  and  im- 
patient on  his  point,  now  advancing  a  length  or 


KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

two  as  the  bird  moves  from  him,  and  now  work- 
ing round  it,  fidgeting  in  a -very  annoying  way, 
until,  ten  chances  to  one,  just  as  the  shooter  is 
hurrying  breathlessly  up,  the  bird  springs  and 
the  shot  is  lost.  Hunting  always  as  if  he  were 
running  a  steeple-chase,  in  company  with  other 
dogs  he  often  refuses  to  back,  and  has  been 
known  to  dash  in  and  flush  rather  than  play 
second  fiddle.  When  the  spirit  of  evil  has  once 
fairly  entered  into  him,  no  severity  of  correc- 
tion has  the  slightest  effect  in  restraining  the 
fiend  within  him,  and  he  will  chase,  race,  yelp, 
mouth  birds,  and  worry  cattle  like  a  very  devil 
incarnate.  And  yet  the  very  day  previous,  per- 
haps, he  has  been  moderately  steady.  This  dog 
is  now  five  years  old,  he  has  been  reared  in  the 
country,  had  the  advantage  of  being  taken  out 
almost  every  day,  and  at  the  present  time  is  not 
a  whit  more  to  be  relied  upon. 

How  advantageously  does  the  purely  bred 
pointer  or  setter  contrast  with  an  individual  of 
caste  like  the  specimen  just  mentioned,  and 
what  a  deal  of  mischief  such  an  animal  may 
create,  even  among  the  most  staunch  and 
amenable  dogs ! 

As  the  practice  is  chiefly  countenanced  by 
men  who  have  dogs  for  sale,  we  would  respect- 


FIELD  DOGS.  281 

fully  recommend  our  readers,  as  a  rule,  never 
to  purchase  a  dog  of  mixed  stock.  The  diffi- 
culty of  breaking  him,  united  with  his  natural 
wilfulness, — which  is  never  entirely  subdued, — 
is  one  'main  reason  why  so  many  inferior  dogs 
are  forced  into  the  field.  We  should,  always 
remember  that  the  nearer  the  animal  approaches 
to  purity  of  blood,  the  nobler  are  its  attributes. 
The  apprehension  and  instincts  of  the  latter  are 
more  clearly  defined,  and  of  a  higher  order  than 
those  of  the  commingled  breed,  in  which  the 
qualities  of  the  thorough-bred  pointer  and  setter 
seem  to  be  partly  obliterated  and  partly  con- 
founded together,  so  to  speak,  in  a  very  uncompro- 
mising and  unsatisfactory  degree.  But  on  this 
head  we  have  said  enough  for  the  present,  and 
with  a  few  words  on  the  rearing  of  the  young 
pointer  and  setter  shall  conclude. 

Having  procured  a  healthy  puppy  of  either 
stock  as  pure  as  can  be  obtained,  send  him  by 
all  means  to  the  country  until  he  has  attained 
his  majority,  if  the  thing  can  be  done  with  any 
degree  of  convenience.  The  advantage  in  this 
is  manifested  in  the  growth  and  good  looks  of 
the  animal,  and  his  almost  total  exemption  from 
disease.  A  puppy,  which  is  allowed  to  run  in 
the  fields  once  or  twice  a  day,  to  empty  himself, 


282  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

cleanse  his  coat,  and  bite  off  the  tops  of  grasses, 
seldom  suffers   from   distemper,  and  generally 
thrives  remarkably  well  on  a  less  allowance  of 
feed  than  the  city  bred  dog.     In  fact  the  latter 
is  often  left  chained,  or  otherwise  confined  to 
the  same  spot,  exposed  to  noxious  animal  exha- 
lations for  days  and  weeks  together,  on  the  sup- 
position  that  as  long  as  he  is  kept  crammed 
until  his  stomach  protrudes  beyond  his  sides 
like  a  pudding-bag,  nothing  further  is  required ; 
and  when  worms,  the  distemper,  mange,  con- 
vulsions, the  ricketts,  or  some  other  diabolical 
complaint  has   fastened   upon  him,  the  owner 
apostrophizes  his  fortune,  and  determines  to  rear 
no  more  young  dogs.     In  this  last  resolution 
he  is  wise,  and  if  willing  to  pay  a  fair  price — 
say  from  seventy -five  to  a  hundred  dollars  for  a 
well-broken  dog,  is  undoubtedly  a  gainer  in  the 
end,  inasmuch  as  the  risk  and  trouble  attending 
the  rearing  of  a  puppy,  is  well  worth  the  diffe- 
rence in  price  between  the  two.'    When,  how- 
ever, you  attempt  to  bring  up  a  dog  in  the  city, 
the  rules  to  be  observed  are  few  and  easily. re- 
membered. 

The  animal  should  be  kept,  if  possible,  in  a 
stable,  coach-house,  or  some  substitute  for  a 
kennel,  where  he  will  not  be  cramped  in  his 


FIELD  DOGS.  283 

motions  by  the  chain,  or  exposed  to  damp  exha- 
lations and  cold  draughts  of  air.  From  the 
time  he  is  weaned,  he  should  be  moderately  fed 
twice  a  day  on  bread  and  milk,  broth,  or  stale 
bread  soaked  in  gravy,  and  occasionally  with  a 
small  portion  of  flesh,  chopped  fine.  If  you  do 
not  observe  this  last  direction,  you  will  have 
trouble  at  the  outset,  for  a  morsel  that  a  puppy 
will  greedily  bolt,  often  passes  undigested 
through  the  lower  orifice  of  the  stomach,  and 
lodging  in  some  portion  of  the  intestinal  canal, 
defies  all  attempts  to  dislodge  it  for  several 
days.  During  this  time  the  dog  suffers  excru- 
ciating pain,  and  after  relief  is  obtained  by  ad- 
ministration of  active  purges  and  clysters,  his 
constitution  remains  seriously  affected. 

Most  probably,  however,  the  first  untoward 
symptoms  which  are  noticed  are-  those  which 
indicate  the  presence  of  worms' in  the  stomach 
and  intestines,  and  in  these  cases  we  have 
found  common  table  salt  regularly  administered 
in  milk,  to  be  the  most  safe  and  effectual 
remedy.  It  is  also  beneficial  in  convulsions 
arising  from  distemper,  or  from  tanial  affections; 
a  small  tea-spoonful  introduced  into  the  mouth 
often  having  the  effect  of  putting  a  period  to 
the  paroxysm.  The  distemper  shows  itself  by 


284  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

various  symptoms,  the  first  and  most  decisive  of 
which  are  a  short,  dry  cough  and  a  slight  dis- 
charge from  the  nose  and  eyes,  conjoined  with 
the  decline  of  appetite,  loss  of  spirits,  and  indis- 
position to  move  about.  For  an  elaborate  ac- 
count of  the  treatment  of  this  terrible  scourge 
to  the  canine  race,  we  refer  the  reader  to  Youatt 
and  Blaine,  or  advise  him,  if  convenient,  to  call 
on  Dr.  Evans  of  Buckley  street,  Philadelphia. 

Cases  of  common  mange  are  to  be  treated 
with  preparations  of  sulphur,  and  change  of 
diet.  The  following  formulae,  copied  from 
Blaine,  are  said  to  be  very  effectual  in  the  com- 
mon varieties  of  mange. 

"  No.  I.  Powdered  sulphur,  yellow  or  black, 
four  ounces.  Muriate  of  ammonia  (sal  ammo- 
niac, crude),  powdered,  half  an  ounce.  Aloes 
powdered,  one  drachm.  Venice  turpentine, 
half  an  ounce.  Lard,  or  other  fatty  matter, 
six  ounces.  Mix. 

"  No.  II.  Sulphate  of  zinc  (white  vitriol),  one 
drachm.  Tobacco  in  powder,  half  an  ounce. 
Sulphur  in  powder,  four  ounces.  Aloes  in  pow- 
der, two  drachms.  Soft  soap,  six  ounces. 

"  No.  III.  Lime  water,  four  ounces.  Decoc- 
tion of  stavesacre,  two  ounces.  Decoction  of 
white  hellebore,  two  ounces.  Oxymuriate  of 


FIELD  DOGS.  285 

quicksilver  (corrosive  sublimate),  five  grains. 
Dissolve  the  corrosive  sublimate  in  the  decoctions, 
which  should  be  of  a  moderate  strength ;  when 
dissolved,  add  two  drachms  of  powdered  .aloes, 
to  render  the  mixture  nauseous,  and  prevent  its 
being  licked  off  by  the  dog,  which  ought  to  be 
carefully  guarded  against.  The  best  means  for 
this  purpose  is  a  muzzle,  having  a  very  fine 
wire  capping  or  mouth-piece,  which  will  effec- 
tually prevent  the  dog  from  getting  his  tongue 
to  the  ointment,  which  would  prove  his  almost 
certain  destruction.  When  therefore  the  appli- 
cation contains  mercury,  tobacco,  hellebore,  or 
other  active  poison,  it  is  recommended  not 
to  depend  wholly  on  the  bitter  of  the  aloes  as  a 
preventive  to  licking,  but  to  apply  an  effective 
muzzle.  Instead  of  muzzling,  we  have  now 
and  then  sewed  him  up  altogether  in  a  dress; 
but  even  then  he  must  be  watched,  that  he  does 
not  gnaw  it  off;  if  the  dog  be  much  valued,  a 
muzzle  of  the  kind  described  is  therefore  the 
best  preventive. 

"For  the  cure  of  red  mange,  to  either  of  the 
recipes,  I.  or  II.  add  an  ounce  of  strong  mercu- 
rial ointment,  and  use  as  already  directed ;  but 
it  will  be  prudent  to  carefully  watch  the  dog, 
that  salivation  may  not  come  on.  Should  this, 


236  KRIDER'S  SPORTING  ANECDOTES. 

however,  unexpectedly  occur,  suspend  the  use 
of  the  ointment  until  the  salivation  disappears; 
when  the  treatment  should  be  resumed  and 
persisted  in  until  all  appearances  of  the  aifection 
vanish." 

In  conclusion,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  in 
order  that  your  dog  may  thrive,  it  is  advisable 
that  clean  water  should  always  be  within  his 
reach,  and  that  he  should  be  bedded  every  eve- 
ning in  a  litter  of  clean  straw.  . 


JOHN     KRIDER, 

MANUFACTURER  OF 

SHOT  GUNS,  RIFLES  AND  PISTOLS, 

ALSO,  IMPOETER  OP 

GUNS  AND  ALL  SPORTING  APPARATUS, 
F1SHIXG  TACKLE  ASD  FIXE  CUTLERY, 

N.  E.  COKNER  OF  SECOND  AND  WALNUT  STS., 
PHILADELPHIA. 


Southern  and  western  merchants,  the  city  and  country  trade 
in  general,  can  be  furnished  with  a  full  assortment  of  every 
article  in  this  line  of  business,  on  as  reasonable  terms  as  by  any 
other  house  in  the  city. 

From  long  experience  as  a  practical  Gun  maker,  I  feel  myself 
competent  to  furnish  the  trade  and  the  sporting  community  with 

GUNS. 

.  Double  and  single,  of  my  own  make,  and  imported  from  the 
best  London  and  Birmingham  makers  of  the  present  day.  Com- 
mon German  Guns,  of  all  descriptions  and  sizes.  Also,  Cane 
Guns,  with  and  without  butts. 

RIFLES. 

Double  and  single,  of  all  descriptions  and  prices,  steel  and 
iron  barrels,  and  made  suitable  for  shooting  all  kinds  of  game ; 
manufactured  and  sold  wholesale  to  country  dealers  and  western 
merchants. 


288  ADVERTISEMENT. 

PISTOLS 

Of  all  varieties,  always  on  band;  such  as  Colt's,  Allen's, 
Sprague  &  Marston's,  Massachusetts  Arms  Company's,  Whit- 
ney's and  English  Revolving  Pistols,  of  all  sizes.  Allen's  sin- 
gle barrel,  self-cocking  Pistols,  of  different  sizes.  Parlor,  Sa- 
loon, or  Ladies'  Pistols.  Duelling,  Armstrong  and  Belt  Pistols 
made  to  order.  Repairs  done  to  all  kinds  of  firearms  and 
sporting  apparatus,  in  the  neatest  and  best  style,  and  in  the 
quickest  possible  time. 

POWDER  FLASKS. 

A  first  rate  assortment  of  Hawksley's  and  Dixon  &  Son's 
make,  varying  from  one  ounce  to  one  pound,  with  and  without 
cords,  patent  fine  proof  chargers,  and  common  and  patent  tops, 
of  all  prices. 

SHOT  POUCHES 

Of  Hawksley's  best  make,  Dixon  &  Son's  patent  knuckle 
charger;  also,  lever  chargers  of  different  patterns  and  prices. 
A  large  assortment  of  Shot  Bags  of  various  shapes  and  chargers, 
of  American  manufacture,  suitable  for  field  sports  and  duck 
shooting. 

A  large  quantity  of  American  and  imported  Game  Bags,  of 
all  patterns  and  sizes. 

DRINKING-  FLASKS. 

Hawksley's,  Dixon  &  Son's  hog-skin  covered,  with  and  with- 
out cups ;  besides  a  large  assortment  of  French  and  German 
wicker-covered  of  a  cheaper  kind,  from  one  drachm  to  a  quart ; 
also,  a  supply  of  patent  leather  Drinking  Cups. 


ADVERTISEMENT.  289 

GUNPOWDER. 

A  large  assortment  of  Hazard's  American  Sporting,  Indian 
Rifle,  Kentucky  Rifle ;  Nos.  1,  2  and  3  Ducking  Powder,  put 
up  in  one  •  pound  canisters,  and  six  and  a  quarter  pound  kegs. 
Garasche's  and  Dupont's  Sporting  Powder,  of  various  qualities 
and  prices,  put  up  in  one  pound  canisters,  six  and  a  quarter, 
twelve  and  a  half,  or  twenty-five  pound  kegs,  sold  wholesale  to 
country  dealers;  also,  Curtis  &  Harvey's  English  Diamond 
Grain  Powder,  of  all  sizes,  imported  by  Brough,  of  New  York. 

GUN  WADS. 

Eley's  concaved  felt,  chemically  prepared  cloth,  and  metallic 
Wads  for  cleansing  guns ;  also,  Baldwin's  elastic  paper  Wads. 

SHOT 

Of  all  sizes,  from  No.  12  to  T ;  Buckshot  of  all  sizes ;  Bullets 
from  16  to  200,  of  Spark's  make,  always  on  hand,  wholesale 
and  retail ;  also,  a  constant  supply  of  Bar  Lead. 

PERCUSSION  CAPS 

In  great  variety.  Eley's  double  water-proof,  metal  lined,  ground 
edge,  and  other  qualities  of  Eley's  make.  R.  Walker's  best 
ground  edge;  also,  cheaper  kinds  of  his  make.  S.  Walker's 
best  make.  Cox's  ground  edge,  water-proof,  and  all  other  qua- 
lities of  his  make.  Gardner's  double  water-proof,  and  all  his 
various  kinds.  French  Caps;  plain  and  split.  G.  D.  Caps, 
ribbed  and  split.  S.  B.  Caps,  plain  and  ribbed ;  besides  a  large 
assortment  of  American  made  Caps,  for  United  States  rifles  and 
muskets. 

ELEY'S  PATENT  WIRE  CARTRIDGES 

Of  assorted  sizes  of  shot ;  also,  plain  Paper  Cartridges,  for  rail 
and  duck  shooting,  manufactured  by  myself,  suitable  for  ail 
guages  of  guns. 


290  ADVERTISEMENT. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
CLEANING-  RODS,  with  implements  complete. 
NIPPLE  WRENCHES  and  SCREW-DRIVERS,  of  various 

forms. 

SHOT  CHARGERS,  both  brass  and  steel,  of  different  sizes. 
DOG  COLLARS,  German  silver,  brass,  steel,  fancy  leather, 

with  plates  of  German  silver  or  brass,  and  Coupling  Chains, 

for  pairing  dogs. 

DOG  CHAINS,  of  assorted  sizes. 
DOG  CALLS,  of  various  descriptions. 
DOG  WHIPS,  assorted. 
HOLSTERS,  for  Colt's  and  Allen's  revolvers. 
GUN  CASES  made  to  order  at  the  shortest  notice. 
RIFLE  BARRELS,  all  lengths,  weights  and  guages. 
CAST-STEEL  BARRELS  made  to  order. 
GERMAN  SILVER,  BRASS  and  MALLEABLE  IRON. 
GUN  MOUNTING,  in  the  rough  or  finished. 
CAP  PRIMERS,  of  various  qualities. 
SHOT  CHARGER  and  POWDER  FLASK  SPRINGS. 
MUSKET,  RIFLE  and  PISTOL  FLINTS. 
HAND  VICES. 

WAD  CUTTERS,  assorted  from  7  to  60. 
BULLET  MOULDS,  assorted  from  16  to  200. 
GERMAN  SILVER  and  CAST  IRON  SIGHTS. 
GERMAN  SILVER  ORNAMENTS  for  shot  guns,  rifles  and 

pistols. 
RAMROD  HEADS,  German  silver,  iron  and  brass,  solid  and 

open. 

GUN  WORMS  and  RIFLE  WIPERS  of  all  kinds. 
SCREWS  suitable  for  all  kinds  of  gun  work. 
TUMBLERS,  TUMBLER  PINS,  MAIN  SPRINGS,  SEER 

SPRINGS,  SEERS,  TRIGGERS,  TRIGGER  PLATES, 

and  BREAK-OFFS. 


ADVERTISEMENT.  291 

PATENT  BREECHES,  double  and  single,  of  different  sizes. 

SIDE  PINS,  BREECH  PINS,  BOLT  LOOPS,  WIRE 
LOOPS,  SWIVEL  and  BOLTS. 

PLUGS  and  NIPPLES,  finished;  also,  American  forged 
PLUGS. 

FORGED  GUN  and  PISTOL  COCKS  of  every  size. 

PERCUSSION  LOCKS  of  every  description,  for  shot  guns, 
rifles  and  pistols. 

FLINT  LOCKS  for  common  rifles. 

CANE  GUN  PISTOLS  in  the  rough. 

GUN  NIPPLES  of  all  varieties  and  sizes. 

OIL  BOTTLES,  TINDER  BOXES,  PORTE  MONNAIES 
and  SEGAR  CASES  of  different  patterns. 

PADLOCKS,  assorted  sizes. 

CORK-SCREWS,  KEY  RINGS  and  COMPASSES  of  diffe- 
rent descriptions. 

CUTLERY.— Rogers  &  Son's  and  Wostenholm's  best  Cutlery, 
consisting  of  Sporting,  Hunting,  Pocket  and  Bowie  Knives, 
in  great  variety.  Also,  Razors,  Scissors,  &c.  &c.  &c. 

FISHING  TACKLE. 

HOOKS. — Genuine  Limerick  Salmon  Hooks;  best  Limerick 
Trout  Hooks ;  best  Limerick  Salmon  Hooks,  flatted ;  best 
Limerick  River  Hooks,  flatted :  best  Limerick  Hooks,  bowed ; 
genuine  Virginia  Hooks,  all  sizes ;  Kirby  Black  Fish  Hooks, 
all  sizes;  Kirby  Salmon  Hooks;  Chestertown  Hooks;  best 
Kirby  Hooks,  bowed. 

LINES.— Plaited  Silk  Lines,  Twisted  Silk  Lines,  Silk  and 
Hair  Fly  Lines,  Twisted  Hair  Lines,  China  Grass  Lines,  and 
also  a  large  assortment  of  Cotton  and  Linen  Lines. 

FISHING  RODS.— Walking  Cane  Rods,  three  and  four  joint, 
plug  end ;  Walking  Cane  Rods,  three  and  four  joint,  screw 


292  ADVERTISEMENT. 

ferrule ;  Walking  Cane  Rods,  three  and  four  joint,  ash  butts  ; 
Hazel  Rods,  three  and  four  joint,  brass  ferrule,  whalebone 
tips ;  Bamboo  Rods,  four  joint,  ringed ;  finely  mounted  Trout 
Rods,  three  and  four  joints ;  Trunk  Rods,  five  and  six  joints. 
Also,  a  large  assortment  of  common  Rods  always  on  hand. 
BRASS  FISHING  REELS,  multiplying  and  plain ;  Fly  Tackle 
Books;  Trout  Baskets,  best  white  gimp,  all  sizes;  Bait 
Boxes ;  Ferrules,  Tips  and  Rings,  for  Rods ;  best  quill  Floats, 
bound  and  unbound;  Egg-shape  Cork  and  Wood  Floats; 
large  bound  Floats,  assorted ;  Swivel  and  Lead  Sinkers ; 
Limerick  and  Kirby  Hooks  on  gimp ;  Limerick  Trout  Hooks 
on  single  gut ;  Limerick  Salmon  Hooks  on  twisted  gut ;  su- 
perfine Kirby  Hooks  on  gut ;  Virginia  Hooks  on  gimp ;  Lime- 
rick Hooks  on  bristles ;  Kirby  Hooks  on  hair ;  fine  Artificial 
Salmon  and  Trout  Flies;  Black  Fish  Snoods,  single  and 
double ;  Artificial  Minnows,  of  leather,  tinsel  and  pearl ; 
Artificial  Grasshoppers,  Frogs,  Shrimps  and  Caterpillars; 
Spoon  Bait,  for  bay  fishing;  one,  two,  three  and  four  hook 
Gut,  Grass  and  Hair  Snoods ;  Float  and  Deep-sea  Lines,  as- 
sorted ;  Jointed  and  Common  Bows.  '  Besides  many  articles 
too  numerous  to  mention,  sold  wholesale  and  retail,  on  the 
lowest  terms. 


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